Finding OS short date format string in MS-Access/VBA

Question

I am looking for a VBA function that would return the current OS Short date format (ex: M/d/yyyy, dd-MMM-yy, yy/MM/dd, etc.) as a string. I have found such functions for MS Excel on related posts using Application.International, but they do not work with MS Access.

I want to be able to show the OS date format in my forms to avoid confusion if '08-11-11' is displayed, for example. Using CDate(), my dates are automatically formatted to whatever is set in Windows Date and time settings. However, users might not be aware of that.

You're afraid users won't know what the date format is on their own machines? — Ken White
@KenWhite I'm afraid they would not be fully aware that MS Access uses the same date format as their OS. — MiniG34
Force the format - either via mask in the form or using the format function and listing as a string and label the box to make it clear what the format is - maintaing concistency for all users. docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/… Otherwise if you are dead-set on listing and using OS date format settings - see here. Can be done by using windows API calls. vbforums.com/… — Mike

Erik A Erik A · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-23T19:56:20

Just pull it from the registry.

There are many ways, the way I use:

CreateObject("WScript.Shell").RegRead("HKCU\Control Panel\International\sShortDate")

Of course, one could use WinAPI to read the registry too.

If reading the registry is really undesirable, you can always format a distinct date, for example:

Format(#2/1/3333#, "Short Date")

And then parse the result to get the format

Finding OS short date format string in MS-Access/VBA

1 Answers