Date calculation is one of the things you won’t realise how handy it is to have an app until you actually use one. Imagine these circumstances:
– you want to know how many days or weeks have elapsed since a particular day which may be medically important ( e.g. transplant date, date of first diagnosis etc.) or even something personal (e.g. date of your last haircut)
– you may want to know what day it is X number of weeks or days ahead (e.g. when scheduling appointments)
– you want to know how many days it is to go before a particular date
– you want to calculate the number of days between two specific dates
Well, Datecalc is a web app which does all of the above for you and more. It is a full featured app which runs in your browser and when saved as a shortcut on your mobile phone’s Homescreen is also capable of running offline without an Internet connection.
This post is a short review of Datecalc and will also serve as a guide for first time users on how to use the features of the app.
When you first load the app in your browser, you’ll notice a little black bar at the bottom as the app data loads. Be patient and let this finish before you run the app. This happens only when you run it the first time or if there are app updates (which will automatically load if you are connected to the Internet). Note that the app data is stored in your browser cache so if you clear the cache, the app will have to re-load.
The Set buttons will call up a spinning wheel Date picker which allows you to set either the 1st or 2d Dates. iOS5 users will be re-directed to a newer version of Datecalc which uses a spinning wheel Date picker on the Date fields itself so there are no Set buttons in this case. Once you set either date, the date calculation is performed automatically. Please note the Date pickers can be used only on Touch screen devices. If you are using a desktop browser e.g. Google Chrome or Apple Safari, you’ll have to use your keyboard to manually enter the dates. Tapping anywhere on the screen after manual entry will perform the date calculation.
The above screen shot shows you how to set the 2nd Date 4 weeks ahead. Enter 4 in the box below “Change 2nd Date”, then hit the large “+” button. This will add 4 weeks to the existing date in the 2nd Date field. The automatic calculation will confirm that the two dates are indeed 4 weeks apart. You can change the interval to Days instead of weeks and also change the 1st Date if you wish. The “-” button will as expected subtract weeks or days from the selected Date.
Use the Reset Dates button to set both dates to the default System date of your device to start afresh.
The Swop dates button is a convenient way to interchange the 1st and 2nd Dates if you wish
Datecalc allow you to save up to 10 favorite Dates and this requires a little more explanation.
Decide which date you wish to Save or Update – 1st or 2nd. The Save/Update is initiated by hitting the Mem button. You are then given to option to Save or Update the 1st or 2nd Date.
You are next presented with a list of 10 available slots for storing or retrieving your Dates. Tapping on any of the slots gives you additional options
“Use this date” button will allow you to select the previously saved date and auto-fill the Date field
“Update saved data” button will update the selected slot with the date from the Date field.
If you choose “Update saved data” you are presented with one more step to optionally input a description for the saved Date.
Well that’s it. It sounds more complicated than it actually is. Play around with the app to get a feel of all the functions.
Datecalc is a free web app which should be compatible with most modern mobile devices – all iOS devices (Phones, iPod Touch, iPAds), Android phones, Blackberries, webOS and possibly Windows Phones too.