Problem with DateDiff

[Helge12]

Hello,

My name is Helge and I am looking for some help. I have never used Microsoft Access until a few hours ago and for that reason I hope you can overlook if I sound stupid. I'm trying to follow the instructions shown in this video tutorial (link below). The end goal is to be able to show a countdown timer in a PowerPoint presentation. But I can't seem to get the database in Access 2016 to work. As I said, I never used it before and spent a couple of hours trying to figure out what to do by googling and using the help section to no luck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzWVUBslby8

1. I have created a table called "TableTargetDate" which basically is a row with two columns named ID and Field1. ID has “1” as a value and Field1 has “2018-02-01”.
2. After that I clicked on Create -> Query Wizard -> Simple Query Wizard. From “Available Fields:” I choose ID and Field1 then clicked finished.
3. I renamed the thing I just created from “TableTargetDate Query” to “QueryTargetDate”. Not sure if it matters but in the video that’s the name they are using.
4. I right clicked on the query and went into Design View -> SQL View.
5. I wrote the code in the box from what was shown in the video:

 SELECT Format(DateDiff([“d”],Now(),[Target]),[”00”]) AS days, Format(DateDiff([“h”],Now(),[Target]) Mod 24,[”00”]) AS hours, Format(DateDiff([“n”],Now(),[Target]) Mod 60,[”00”]) AS minutes, Format(DateDiff([“s”],Now(),[Target]) Mod 60,[”00”]) AS seconds FROM TableTargetDate;

When I click on “Run” it opens up a dialogue box and its asking: Enter Parameter value “d”. Regardless if I write a value or not, after I click ok its asking for parameter values for: Target, “00”, “h”, “n”, “s”. Then it says the phrase is either to complex or wrong. Ive compared the code to the one shown in the video several times and I can't see any difference. I's there some connection between the boxes in Design View on Queries that must be done or what?



I would be grateful if anyone, in some easy, way could explain what I need to do to get it to work.

[June7]

Incorrect use of [].

Format(DateDiff("d", Now(), [Target]), "00")

Brackets in query are used to define objects - field, control, table, query, form, report.

In tutorials the [] can be used to designate something you have to provide - [use what you prefer here] - but the brackets would be dropped.

Also, the quote marks in your posted example may need to be replaced with ". Note the different style. I am baffled how your posted example has the wrong style if you typed the SQL in the designer.

[Helge12]

Incorrect use of [].

Format(DateDiff("d", Now(), [Target]), "00")

Brackets in query are used to define objects - field, control, table, query, form, report.

In tutorials the [] can be used to designate something you have to provide - [use what you prefer here] - but the brackets would be dropped.

Also, the quote marks in your posted example may need to be replaced with ". Note the different style. I am baffled how your posted example has the wrong style if you typed the SQL in the designer.

Thank you for taking the time. I noticed I copied the wrong code in my previous post, sorry about that. The brackets around "d", "h", "n" and "s" where something I tried earlier after reading some tutorial but I guess I got it wrong. But you are right about the quote marks. I've changed it now and tried again, this time I only get Enter Parameter value dialouge box for “Target”. Should I drop the brackets around that aswell or does Target need to be replaced with something? This is the code that I'm using in SQL View:

SELECT Format(DateDiff("d",Now(), [Target]),"00") AS days, Format(DateDiff("h",Now(),[Target]) Mod 24,"00") AS hours, Format(DateDiff("n",Now(),[Target]) Mod 60,"00") AS minutes, Format(DateDiff("s",Now(),[Target]) Mod 60,"00") AS seconds
FROM TableTargetDate;

This is what it looks like in Design View:

[June7]

Target is just a generic reference used in tutorial and should be replaced with actual field name from your table.

Field1 is not descriptive. Should give your objects more informative names.

[Helge12]

Target is just a generic reference used in tutorial and should be replaced with actual field name from your table.

Field1 is not descriptive. Should give your objects more informative names.

I got it working now, thank you!