Dates not being handled correctly in script

Hi there,

I'm trying to write a function to import data from a Microsoft access database between two dates. I'm using the database explorer toolbox. I used the GUI to generated code to do the task and then I modified it so that I could pass in 2 dates as arguments to the function.

However, for some reason the dates are not being handled/converted properly so the script returns no data.

It would be great if somebody could look at the code and tell me where I'm going wrong.

In the command line I'm writing

data = getData('14/7/2009','20/7/2009');

Using the debugging it says the startdate = 30/12/0019 and enddate = 30/12/0025 which are obviously incorrect.

Many thanks

Code:

function data = getData(startDate, endDate)

%This script import data from the ElectricityData database access file
%Set preferences with setdbprefs.
setdbprefs('DataReturnFormat', 'structure');
setdbprefs('NullNumberRead', 'NaN');
setdbprefs('NullStringRead', 'null');

%Make connection to database.  Note that the password has been omitted.
%Using ODBC driver.
conn = database('electricitydata', '', '');

%Read data from database.

if nargin == 2
    startDate = datestr(startDate, 'dd/mm/yyyy');
    endDate = datestr(endDate, 'dd/mm/yyyy');
    curs = exec(conn, ['SELECT   LoadData.Date'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Hour'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Temperature'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Load'...
    ' FROM   LoadData WHERE LoadData.Date BETWEEN #' startDate '# AND #' endDate '#  ']);
else
    curs = exec(conn, ['SELECT   LoadData.Date'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Hour'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Temperature'...
    ' ,  LoadData.Load'...
    ' FROM   LoadData ']);
end
curs = fetch(curs);
close(curs);

%Assign data to output variable
data = curs.Data;

%Close database connection.
close(conn);

%Clear variables
clear curs conn

Answer 1

[Vishal Rane]

datestr converts date vectors to date strings. since you already have a date string I believe you need to use datenum