General Discussion

Our documentation on TrueContext's proprietary language, DREL (Data Record Expression Language), is extensive, and the topic has been frequently discussed within our community. However, DREL is versatile and integral to everything we do, so it warrants continuous attention and review.

Recent Improvements to the %d Reference

We've made improvements to the %d reference, which is used to display the date of a form submission. This update affects the date reference, which now returns the date when a record was:

• Dispatched
• Declined
• Submitted (either complete or incomplete)
• Approved

Time Zones

The time zone for dates and times is determined by the following factors:

1. When Resolving DREL in Output Documents:
   The Document Time Zone Source controls the time zone.
2. When Resolving DREL in Data Destination or Using the "Test DREL" Option:
   The time zone depends on the record status, as shown below:

If the record was	The date resolves to the
Dispatched	Team time zone (if configured) or UTC (if not)
Declined, submitted, or transferred, and processed on the server	Device time zone
Approved (Enterprise tier only)	Device time zone

Tip: You can override the default time zones using additional properties found in our DREL Complete Reference List: https://docs.truecontext.com/1374411/Content/Features/DREL/DRELReference.htm?Highlight=DREL%22%20%5Cl%20%22Time.

Customizing Date Display

You can customize how the system displays the date. For example, you can:

• Change the date format: %d[dd/MM/yyyy]
• Display the day of the week, month, year, or the week of the year: %d[dd-MM-yyyy w]
• Display and change the time zone: %d[dd-MM-yyyy z][TeamTZ]
• Use a combination of format properties: %d[dd/MM/yyyy E w z][TeamTZ]

Date Format Property Details

• Default Property: [yyyy-MM-dd]
• Date Format Properties:
  You can modify the date format using the following symbols:

Symbol	Meaning	Format supported	Output Examples
y	Year	[y], [yy], [yyyy]	2019, 19, 2019
M	Month	[MM], [MMM], [MMMM]	09, Sep, September
d	Day in the month	[d], [dd]	5, 05
E	Day of the week	[E], [EEEE]	Tue, Tuesday
D	Day in the year	[D]	258
w	Week in the year	[w]	42
z	Display the time zone	[z], [zzzz]	EDT, Eastern Daylight Time

Time Zone Override Properties

The default time zone may vary depending on the context. For example, you can specify a "default" time zone for a document.

To display or apply a different time zone, use one of the following properties after a date format:

• DataRecordTZ: Time zone on the user's device
• TeamTZ: Time zone configured at the team level
• Region/City: A specific time zone (any name from the TZ database time zones list)

Approval Property (Enterprise Tier Only)

If the record requires approval, use %d[approval] to return the date when the record was last approved. The time zone used is the device time zone of the user who submitted the record.

Usage Examples

Here are a few examples of how to use the %d reference:

• Form submitted:
  %d[dd-MM-yyyy] returns Form submitted 25-06-2020
• Date in full format:
  %d[EEEE, MMMM d, yyyy] returns Thursday, June 25, 2020
• Week number:
  %d[w, yyyy] returns Week 26, 2020
• Date with time zone (TeamTZ):
  %d[dd-MM-yyyy z][TeamTZ] returns 26-06-2020 EDT when the form was submitted on 25-06-2020 at 11:50 PM PDT.
• Approval date:
  %d[approval][dd-MM-yy] returns Approval date: 30 12 24 when the record was approved on December 30, 2024.

Additional Resources

In addition to our Product Documentation, check out these previous community posts on DREL:

• Do you DREL?
• DREL Video Primer
• Ian's Insights Ep. 10: The importance of a proper Form Submission Name
• New Feature Announcement – DREL in Repeatable Section Summary Tables

#TechTalkSuccess

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David Casal Del Castillo
Manager, Customer Success
TrueContext
Ottawa
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