[RESOLVED] Format Function seems to be dropping trailing zeroes in decimal displays

[SamOscarBrown]

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32" () As Long

Dim startTime As Double
Dim StopTime As Double
Dim getTime As Double

'At the beginning of an event (in my case it gets startTime when I turn on Form KeyPreview 
(set to true)at a list_click event), so players can use my handheld (wireless) devices to 
answer a question:
startTime = GetTickCount()

Later in my code, when a player DOES use the HH device, I get the StopTime for each player, 
so I can later compare and list (in order) their times it took for them to answer the question 
and (actually perform some written function 'off line') see how quickly each player does:
StopTime = GetTickCount()

I then immediately calculate getTime (which is number of "seconds" that passed from the 
startTime to the StopTime.  I use this Format below for an eventual display of those 
"seconds" in a 3-decimal view (in a flexgrid column):
getTime = Format((StopTime - startTime) / 1000, "#.000")

I want each time to be displayed in 3 decimal points, which I believe that Format function is
supposed to produce. However, every once in a while, a player's time may end up with two, one,
or even zero decimals. I'm assuming it has something to do with that division (stopTime-startTime / 1000).
I thought using doubles was surely the way to go, but, like I said, sometimes I get numbers like 3.45, 2.4, etc.,
and want 3.450, 2.400, etc. I SUPPOSE I could convert getTime to a String after calculating it,
and add zeroes to pad the display, but that seems like extra work that SHOULDN'T be required.

What am I missing/doing incorrectly?

[SamOscarBrown]

Update (no, not solved, but)...

In a separate simple test, this code produced 3334.51 (note: myNumber is dimmed as double)

Dim myNumber As Double
myNumber = Format("3334.51", "#.000")
Debug.Print myNumber

However, if I dim myNumber as String, it produces 334.510:

Dim myNumber As String
myNumber = Format("3334.51", "#.000")
Debug.Print myNumber

If the 'solution' is to dim that variable as a String, I can most certainly do so, but it seems strange to do that.

Confused

[OptionBase1]

If the 'solution' is to dim that variable as a String, I can most certainly do so, but it seems strange to do that.

Confused

Trailing 0's are "numerically" ignored.

Format returns a String, so you shouldn't be storing it in a numeric variable. If all you want to do is display the numeric value with formatting, then you don't need a String variable, just:

-Store the numeric calculation result to an appropriate numeric variable
-Assign the result of your Format command of said numeric variable to the .Text or .Caption property of whatever type of control you are using to display it to the user.

[Elroy]

Yeah, OptionBase1 nailed it. Format() returns a String Variant, and Format$() returns a String (not in a variant). So Format$() is a bit better.

But yeah, Sam, your code is doing tons of implicit casting:

Dim myNumber As Double
myNumber = Format("3334.51", "#.000")
         ^    ^      ^
         |    |      | This string is being cast to a number (probably a Double).
         |    |       
         |    | This is returning a String inside a Variant.
         |    
         | This is casting that String-Variant into a Double so it'll go into myNumber.

And now that it's back into a Double (myNumber), it's again represented as IEEE binary, so it doesn't "perfectly" represent a base-10 number any longer. So, when you print it, you may get a number that's ever so slightly off from what the Format() Variant-String returned.

Personally, the only time I ever use Format$() [and actually never using Format()] is when I'm ready to print/output the number, and not to store it in another variable.

I suppose occasionally, I'll put a Format$() into another string to build a longer string that's got my formatted number in it.

One last thing ... once you've got it into myNumber, any explicit formatting (to a specific number of decimal points) is gone.

[SamOscarBrown]

I see....returns a string...got it (shoulda known that all along...mea culpa).
As far as Format$, got it now as well (also knew that before).

So, I changed getTime to a String. But, now, confused once again...I put the players 'name' and getTime (the total num of seconds) into a String Array (as a matter of a fact, I used CSTR() to put getTime into the array (not even realizing it was already a string). so, I have two dimension array with player and 'seconds'. I then later put those array elements into an MSFlexGrid. I then click on a header on that grid to sort the column (with a sort routine--see below)...and now (realizing that the 2nd element is (and was) astring), I kinda expected it to sort as STRINGS, but it SEEMS to sort as values. ex: 1.234, 4.567, 7.897, 10.332, 12.211, etc...why isn't it sorting by STRING where the 10.332 would come before 4.567, eg.)?

Private Sub Grid1_Click()
    Dim lCol As Long, lRow As Long, i As Integer
    If grid1.Text = "" Then Exit Sub 'to prevent error if clicking on a blank line before sorting the grid (which removes blanks)
    With grid1
        lCol = .MouseCol
        lRow = .MouseRow
        '~~> If a Fixed Row is clicked
        If lRow < .FixedRows And lRow <> -1 Then
            '~~> If a Fixed Row is not clicked
            If lCol >= .FixedCols Then
                .Col = lCol
                .Sort = flexSortGenericAscending
            End If
        Else
            txtPlayer(CInt(Mid(grid1.Text, 8, 2)) - 1) = txtPlayer(CInt(Mid(grid1.Text, 8, 2)) - 1) + 1
            frmAudience.txtPlayer(CInt(Mid(grid1.Text, 8, 2)) - 1) = frmAudience.txtPlayer(CInt(Mid(grid1.Text, 8, 2)) - 1) + 1
        End If
        
    End With
    
    For i = grid1.Rows - 1 To 1 Step -1
        grid1.Row = i
        If grid1.TextMatrix(i, 1) = "" Then
            grid1.RemoveItem (i)
        End If
    Next i


    frmAudience.grid1.Rows = 1
    For i = 1 To grid1.Rows - 1
        frmAudience.grid1.Rows = frmAudience.grid1.Rows + 1
        grid1.Row = i
        frmAudience.grid1.TextMatrix(i, 0) = grid1.TextMatrix(i, 0)
        frmAudience.grid1.TextMatrix(i, 1) = grid1.TextMatrix(i, 1)
    Next i
End Sub

[SamOscarBrown]

Never mind...I (Finally) re-read MSDN on "FlexSortGenericAscending":

Generic Ascending. An ascending sort, which estimates whether text is string or number, is performed.