Duration and Duration type

Duration is a type of formatting that is used to display time units and perform date arithmetic. Values that show duration must be entered in milliseconds.

When you select 'Duration' in Format type, Duration type will become available. You can select the type of formatting to use for duration as follows:

Hours:Minutes, e.g. 277:46
Hours:Minutes:Seconds, e.g. 277:46:40
Minutes:Seconds, e.g. 16666:40
Weeks, e.g. 1.65
Days, e.g. 11.57
Hours, e.g. 277.78
Minutes, e.g. 16,666.67
Seconds, e.g. 1,000,000.00

It is possible to use the other formatting alternatives when 'Duration' is selected, with the exception of Decimal places, which is not available with 'Duration'. The following standard values apply in the examples above:

Prefix (none)
Postfix (none)
Decimal places 2
Color style Normal

From version 4.4.0.0 onward, the Format properties are no longer a string that can be converted into child properties like this: ;;2;percentage;positive. They are now individual properties.

When exporting to Excel, the following applies:

Week will be displayed as days, because Excel does not have week format
Hours:minutes:seconds, Hours:minutes, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds are all exported as expected
By default, all others are exported as [H]:M:S

If using BOP or EOP to calculate a Duration, they must be in parentheses, e.g.

(EOP)-(BOP)

This is because the minus (-) operator will conflict with the minus operator in date modifications that can be placed after a BOP statement.