Unable to enter full formula

[Mark_Anson]

Hi,
I am entering the following formuula but after pressing save the formual appears with the end missing
WHAT I ENTER
IF({1st Sow Date}=BLANK(),"",DATETIME_FORMAT(DATEADD({1st Sow Date},{Min Germ Days},‘Days’)),‘DD/MM/YYYY’)
WHAT APPEARS AFTER I PRESS SAVE
IF({1st Sow Date}=BLANK(),"",DATETIME_FORMAT(DATEADD({1st Sow Date},{Min Germ Days},‘Days’)))

Thanks for your help

[Jeremy_Oglesby · Accepted solution]

I think that may have been because it is invalid. You have your date formatting string as the last argument of your IF() statement, rather than the last argument of your DATETIME_FORMAT() argument. Try this (I also inverted the BLANK() check, since it makes more sense to validate presence than lack of presence):

IF(
   {1st Sow Date},
   DATETIME_FORMAT(
      DATEADD(
         {1st Sow Date},
         {Min Germ Days},
         'Days'
      ),
   'DD/MM/YYYY'
   )
)

[Mark_Anson]

Thanks so much,
I dont quite understand how it works as I dont see the logical argument but it works a treat,
Thanks again…

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

The formula I provided says,

IF there is anything at all in the {1st Sow Date} field
   (the presence of any value at all evaluates to TRUE)
THEN process my datetime-format-dateadd formula

Since there is no ELSE condition, nothing happens if the the first condition evaluates to FALSE, which will be the case if the {1st Sow Date} field is empty, or BLANK().

[Mark_Anson]

Aha, that gives me a new understanding of IF …thanks so much.
Why is not the help documentation as clear as you explain things…

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

There is not always a great overlap, in companies like Airtable, between “programmers who design the logic/functionality” and “technical documentation writers who explain the logic/functionality” :man_shrugging:t2:

There is also some value in maintaining concise documentation. This means it is not always as helpful as it could be, but at least it’s not cluttered or difficult to navigate.

I used to be a teacher, and I am now a software developer – so I think I just happen to have the right cross-over of skills that enable me to do well at explaining technical functionality :slightly_smiling_face:

[Mark_Anson]

You certainly make it easy, you helped me out the other day as well and both pieces of assitance has helped so much in moving my database forward to do things I want it to do with as little effort as possible after the initial data entry.
It is a simple catalogue of the seeds I have and trying to keep track of Expiry Dates so i dont waste the seed and having reminders for when to sow and how frequently and a record of sucess and failures.

My aim is to become self sufficient with vegetables on my 750 sq metre block of land.
An important part of that is having proper records.

Sorry off track there, has become a bit of a passion (obsession)

Cheers and thanks again

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

Mark_Anson:

My aim is to become self sufficient with vegetables on my 750 sq metre block of land.

Best of luck, my friend.