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JQueryUI Datepicker in ASP.NET MVC

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30 Oct 2011CPOL1 min read 129.3K   23   8
Using Datepicker JQuery plugin in ASP.NET MVC

Datepicker is a nice and cool plugin for displaying the calendar with ease. It is very easy to use JQuery plugin, it comes as part of JQueryUI library, so if you want to use this – first download JQueryUI from http://jqueryui.com/download and also download JQuery (http://docs.jquery.com/Downloading_jQuery) if you haven’t done so yet.

For example, if you have a form like the one below:

ASP.NET
<% using(Html.BeginForm()){%>
  <fieldset>
    <legend>Event Information</legend>
     <p>
        <label for="EventName">Event Name:</label>
        <%= Html.TextBox("EventName")%>
            </p>
            <p>
            <label for="StartDate">Start Date:</label>
            <%= Html.TextBox("StartDate")%>
            </p>
            <p>
            <label for="EndDate">End Date:</label>
            <%= Html.TextBox("EndDate")%>
            </p>
            <p>
                <input type="submit" value="Save" />
            </p>
  </fieldset>
<% }%>

and you want to attach datepicker to “StartDate” and “EndDate” input fields, what you need to do is call the datepicker function on these input field selectors like below:

JavaScript
<script language="javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
    $('#StartDate').datepicker();
    $('#EndDate').datepicker();
    });
</script>

This works fine as we expected. 

Difference in Date Format Patterns

Consider a scenario where your MVC application supports localization, then the selected date displayed in the input fields also should display in the same date format of the current culture (This format could be the custom one or default one). This leads to another issue – Datepicker plugin given by the JQueryUI supports different date formats, but it is different from the one that is available in .NET. For example, in order to display a long day name (“Thursday”), .NET uses “dddd” it's equivalent in Datepicker is “DD”.

In order to solve this disparity between the .NET world and Datepicker world, I have created an HTML helper function, which could generate the Datepicker format from a .NET date format.

C#
/// <summary>
/// JQuery UI DatePicker helper.
/// </summary>
public static class JQueryUIDatePickerHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the .net supported date format current culture 
    /// format into JQuery Datepicker format.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="html">HtmlHelper object.</param>
    /// <returns>Format string that supported in JQuery Datepicker.</returns>
    public static string ConvertDateFormat(this HtmlHelper html)
    {
        return ConvertDateFormat(html, 
	Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the .net supported date format current culture 
    /// format into JQuery Datepicker format.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="html">HtmlHelper object.</param>
    /// <param name="format">Date format supported by .NET.</param>
    /// <returns>Format string that supported in JQuery Datepicker.</returns>
    public static string ConvertDateFormat(this HtmlHelper html, string format)
    {
        /*
         *  Date used in this comment : 5th - Nov - 2009 (Thursday)
         *
         *  .NET    JQueryUI        Output      Comment
         *  --------------------------------------------------------------
         *  d       d               5           day of month(No leading zero)
         *  dd      dd              05          day of month(two digit)
         *  ddd     D               Thu         day short name
         *  dddd    DD              Thursday    day long name
         *  M       m               11          month of year(No leading zero)
         *  MM      mm              11          month of year(two digit)
         *  MMM     M               Nov         month name short
         *  MMMM    MM              November    month name long.
         *  yy      y               09          Year(two digit)
         *  yyyy    yy              2009        Year(four digit)             *
         */

        string currentFormat = format;

        // Convert the date
        currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("dddd", "DD");
        currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("ddd", "D");

        // Convert month
        if (currentFormat.Contains("MMMM"))
        {
            currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("MMMM", "MM");
        }
        else if (currentFormat.Contains("MMM"))
        {
            currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("MMM", "M");
        }
        else if (currentFormat.Contains("MM"))
        {
            currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("MM", "mm");
        }
        else
        {
            currentFormat = currentFormat.Replace("M", "m");
        }

        // Convert year
        currentFormat = currentFormat.Contains("yyyy") ? 
	currentFormat.Replace("yyyy", "yy") : currentFormat.Replace("yy", "y");

        return currentFormat;
    }
}

So how could we make use of this helper method? Just replace the datepicker initialization code we have written earlier with this:

JavaScript
<script language="javascript">
    $(document).ready(function() {
    $('#StartDate').datepicker({ dateFormat: '<%= Html.ConvertDateFormat() %>' });
    $('#EndDate').datepicker({ dateFormat: '<%= Html.ConvertDateFormat() %>' });
    });
</script>

Hope this helps!

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Technical Lead
India India
I am someone who is passionate about programming. I started my career with classic asp and VB 6, later dived into the world of .NET. My ambition is to become a technical architect who could design complex systems in a simplistic form which obeys the "Laws of nature"

My personal blog

Comments and Discussions

 
PraiseExcellent Pin
dimpant6-Dec-17 22:11
dimpant6-Dec-17 22:11 
Hi,

I've incorporated this very useful helper method in my web application. Since it is a Web Forms application I just had the HtmlHelper parameter removed.

Still, it is amazing that a popular date picker such as jQueryUI datepicker does not support this functionality out of the box.

This is exactly what I was looking for,
Thank you very much.

Questionshows error when we convert yy to yyyy Pin
Preetika parolkar30-Mar-14 19:45
Preetika parolkar30-Mar-14 19:45 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
PBGuy3-Dec-13 20:09
professionalPBGuy3-Dec-13 20:09 
GeneralMy vote of 4 Pin
Brian Herbert16-Jul-13 4:19
Brian Herbert16-Jul-13 4:19 
Generalnice article Pin
Donsw1-Sep-12 8:10
Donsw1-Sep-12 8:10 
SuggestionA little suggestion Pin
Daniele Fusi1-Nov-11 9:19
Daniele Fusi1-Nov-11 9:19 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
kiran dangar31-Oct-11 2:59
kiran dangar31-Oct-11 2:59 

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