XL97: Date Format Is Not Retained in Parameters Dialog Box

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you click Parameters on the Get External Data menu, the date parameter in the "Use the following value" box of the Parameters dialog box is not formatted as a date. Instead the parameter is displayed as a value.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you do the following:

• You use the Get External Data command and a date in a parameter query.

      -and-
  

• In the Enter Parameter Value dialog box, you click "Use this value/reference for future refreshes."

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

When you use the Get External Data command, you can specify a criterion that uses a parameter query. A parameter query prompts you for an input to use in the criteria for the query. However, if the parameter query uses a date, when you store the date in the parameter by clicking the "Use this value/reference for future refreshes," the date is not displayed in a date format in the Parameters dialog box. Instead, the date is displayed as the date serial value. For example, if you enter the date June 24, 1997 in a parameter query, the date is stored in the parameter and is displayed in the Parameters dialog box as 35605.

REFERENCES

For more information about parameter queries, click the Index tab in Microsoft Query Help, type the following text

   parameter