[R] "XLConnect" packages; Excel dates read incorrectly

Sun Sep 24 09:33:56 CEST 2017

FYI: Most files you might attach to an email sent to the mailing list will not transmitted to us due to virus propagation policies of the mailing list (they are removed.... see the Posting Guide). The best method for sharing binary files is to to put them on a website like Dropbox or Google Drive. For most R questions the best possible solution would be to use the dput function to create an R statement that we can execute to get the object in our R session.  [1][2][3] This technique allows you to send your entire question in the email body, with no risk of losing pieces. Obviously this would be difficult with this particular question. 

The mailing list is also a plain text mailing list, so when you send HTML it often gets mangled... take the time to set your email format to plain text before sending to the list. 

---

[1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5963269/how-to-make-a-great-r-reproducible-example

[2] http://adv-r.had.co.nz/Reproducibility.html

[3] https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/reprex/index.html (read the vignette) 
-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.

On September 23, 2017 10:51:16 PM PDT, John <miaojpm at gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>   Thank you for all your responses.
>For Eric, The files are attached. (I believe it was also attached in my
>first message)
>For David, Could you send me the link regarding possible solutions or a
>more comprehensive description of the problem?
>
>   Thanks,
>
>John
>
>
>2017-09-23 22:29 GMT-07:00 David Winsemius <dwinsemius at comcast.net>:
>
>>
>> > On Sep 23, 2017, at 6:30 AM, Eric Berger <ericjberger at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>> >
>> > Jim,
>> > I don't see how that link could be related to John's issue.
>Symptoms
>> > related to your link involve discrepancies of four years whereas
>John is
>> > seeing discrepancies of one day.
>> >
>>
>> The MS Excel starting point was off by one day. R does not repeat
>that
>> error. MS claims that their  error is justified by needing to copy
>the
>> error made by Lotus123 and then because they wanted backward
>compatibility.
>>
>> I'm not sure why the XLConnect package does not fix the error. They
>just
>> use the integer from Excel and let R apply it correctly.
>> --
>> David.
>>
>>
>> > John,
>> > I do not see any attached files.
>> >
>> > Regards
>> >
>> > On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 1:30 PM, Jim Lemon <drjimlemon at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi John,
>> >> It could be due to this:
>> >>
>> >> https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/214330/differences-
>> >> between-the-1900-and-the-1904-date-system-in-excel
>> >>
>> >> Jim
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 1:04 PM, John <miaojpm at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> Hi,
>> >>>
>> >>>   I tried to read xlsx files by "XLConnect" packages, but the
>dates are
>> >>> one day earlier than it is supposed to be. I moved from
>California to
>> >>> Taiwan (Eastern Asia), and it worked well in California, but not
>in
>> >> Taiwan.
>> >>> Even if I adjust my Mac time to California time zone, it gives
>the
>> wrong
>> >>> dates. I don't know which part of the setting (in RStudio or in
>my
>> Mac?)
>> >> I
>> >>> should adjust. The codes and the data are attached.
>> >>>
>> >>>   My data are on weekdays, Monday to Friday every week, but they
>are
>> >> read
>> >>> as Sunday to Thursday.
>> >>>
>> >>> Data:
>> >>> 2004-01-01 (Th)
>> >>> 2004-01-02 (F)
>> >>> 2004-01-05 (M)
>> >>> 2004-01-06 (T)
>> >>> 2004-01-07 (W)
>> >>> 2004-01-08 (Th)
>> >>> 2004-01-09 (F)
>> >>>
>> >>> The data are read as:
>> >>> "2003-12-31" (W)
>> >>> "2004-01-01" (Th)
>> >>> "2004-01-04" (Su)
>> >>> "2004-01-05" (M)
>> >>> "2004-01-06" (Tu)
>> >>> "2004-01-07" (W)
>> >>> "2004-01-08" (Th)
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> The codes are (also attached):
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> rm(list=ls())
>> >>> library(XLConnect)
>> >>> library(xlsx)
>> >>>
>> >>> fl<-paste("allData_out3.xlsx")
>> >>> a1<-readWorksheetFromFile(fl, sheet="first", colTypes="numeric")
>> >>> b1<-readWorksheetFromFile(fl, sheet="second", colTypes="numeric")
>> >>> a_col<-readWorksheetFromFile(fl, sheet="first")
>> >>> date11<-as.Date(a_col$date, format="%Y-%m-%d")
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> The output:
>> >>>> date11
>> >>> [1] "2003-12-31" "2004-01-01" "2004-01-04" "2004-01-05"
>"2004-01-06"
>> >>> "2004-01-07"
>> >>> [7] "2004-01-08" "2004-01-11" "2004-01-12" "2004-01-13"
>"2004-01-14"
>> >>> "2004-01-15"
>> >>> [13] "2004-01-18" "2004-01-19" "2004-01-20" "2004-01-21"
>"2004-01-22"
>> >>> "2004-01-25"
>> >>> [19] "2004-01-26" "2004-01-27" "2004-01-28" "2004-01-29"
>"2004-02-01"
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Thanks!!
>> >>> ______________________________________________
>> >>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
>> >> posting-guide.html
>> >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible
>code.
>> >>
>> >> ______________________________________________
>> >> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> >> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
>> >> posting-guide.html
>> >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>> >>
>> >
>> >       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>> >
>> > ______________________________________________
>> > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
>> posting-guide.html
>> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>> David Winsemius
>> Alameda, CA, USA
>>
>> 'Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently
>advanced.'
>>  -Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/
>> posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>______________________________________________
>R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>PLEASE do read the posting guide
>http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.