Initial text value misunderstood as date

[Dub_App]

Hi,
I set a text column ("Aspect ratio") with "16:9" as initial value (without any kind of validation). 

When record is created this is the result:

As you can see, the content its a dummy date as text (but misunderstanding "16:9" as a time value).

The workaround was add an additional text ("Ratio 16:9") as initial value to avoid the weird convertion:

My humble opinion is that it is a bug.  But if I am wrong, please let me know.

Thanks!

[TeeSee1]

Are you using a Google Spreadsheet as your database?

If so, try setting the column format to plain text.

[Dub_App]

Hi!
Yes, Google Spreadsheet is the database. 
But I set the column with "text without format", and didn`t work.

In any case, thanks for the tip!

[TeeSee1]

I tried it and got the same result as yours.

As a workaround, I used TEXT("16:9","HH:M") and seemed to work.

[Dub_App]

Thank you very much!
In this case it´s a minor problem, but I guess this should be flagged as something to check, to understand all the possible implications with other intial values/scenarios.
Regards

[Steve · Accepted solution]

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@Dub_App wrote:

My humble opinion is that it is a bug.  But if I am wrong, please let me know.

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I would agree, but it is in fact intended behavior: AppSheet is trying to be helpful by "recognizing" dates and times whether you the app creator want it to or not. Working around the "feature" is the only option.