From: nospam@nospam   
      
   Craig wrote:   
      
   > The problem in hospitals is that the day starts @0700.   
      
   Time of day is just an expression of elapsed time past an arbitrary start.   
   Instead of actual time of day, store the time as an integer offset from the   
   start of your workday in units to whatever granularity you need - minutes,   
   seconds, etc.   
      
   For minute granularity, you'd have 0700=0, 0715=15, 0730=30,...,0900=120,   
   0915=135,...,0600=1380, 0630=1395, 0659=1439   
      
   The same way of thinking works without an offset.  0700=420,   
   0715=435,...,0600=1740, 0659=1759   
      
      
   You have to translate this in and out during data entry, reporting, etc.   
   The simple way is to establish these values (using whichever scale you want)   
   as the PK in a lookup, then associate with the actual time of day.  Then   
   rendering in a UI is a simple join or a backtrack.   
      
   I've used this approach several times, mostly regarding a broadcast   
   schedule, where the broadcast day starts and ends after midnight.  Before   
   long it becomes automatic, and you start thinking in terms of offsets   
   instead of TOD.   
      
   --   
   Larry DiGiovanni   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)