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Converting String Months to Datetime for proper sorting by Month

Aaron Olson
  • Updated

Problem:

I want to sort my data in chronological order by Month but my data has the Month as a string column. 

Issue:

Sorting in a chronological order must use a Datetime field to be properly ordered or it will be organized alphabetically.

Resolution:

By using an Expression you can convert the field from Strings to a Datetime and organize correctly with the same view.  If you use the below expression it will convert the data if the string data is in the y1 axis.
 

if(y1=='January'){'2015-01-01';}
else if(y1=='February'){'2015-02-01';}
else if(y1=='March'){'2015-03-01';}
else if(y1=='April'){'2015-04-01';}
else if(y1=='May'){'2015-05-01';}
else if(y1=='June'){'2015-06-01';}
else if(y1=='July'){'2015-07-01';}
else if(y1=='August'){'2015-08-01';}
else if(y1=='September'){'2015-09-01';}
else if(y1=='October'){'2015-10-01';}
else if(y1=='November'){'2015-11-01';}
else if(y1=='December'){'2015-12-01';}
else{'0';}
 

Then by using the Formats and Labels in the chart designer, set the view of Default Date Format to MMMM which will display the data in Month name only format.

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