This week I needed to make a form where the user needed to enter two dates in order to produce a report with the selected start and end dates. What were my options?
I considered writing my own php script where I would have separate pull-down boxes for the day, month and year to assure that there was no mistake as to the actual dates. That would take a little extra format massaging to create the date in MySQL format, so I looked for scripts that others had already written. Who wouldn’t?
Formatting dates can drive a person crazy. Does ’06-08-2000′ mean June 8th or the 6th of August? Writing for the Web should be universal. The month-day format that we tend to use in the U.S. is confusing to everybody else who uses the day-month format, and vice-versa.
Writing by hand I like to use this format ’12-Mar-2000′ so there is no ambiguity, but that format needs to be converted to ‘YYYY-MM-DD’ format when sending dates to MySQL.
So, what are my requirements for such a Date-Picker Script?
- easy, intuitive for the user
- easy for me with output in MySQL format (YYYY-MM-DD)
- unrestricted license would be nice
I tried a few different date picker scripts and decided upon SpiffyCalendar because it’s the most advanced, yet easily modified to suit my purposes. Also, there is an established support system via a Yahoo! user group. That’s really nice, and unexpected.
Here’s the scripts I tried and the pros and cons for each…most weren’t as user-friendly as SpiffyCalendar.
PHP Calendar
- PROS
- I like the look of this calendar, but it’s difficult to determine how to modify the calendar other than for css of calendar appearance.
- Date output is already in MySQL format: YYYY-MM-DD
- CONS
- Can’t select year from calendar unless you click back or forward to the actual month.
- Ugly and excessively long query strings in links.
DatePick
- PROS
- I like the little calendar icon.
- CONS
- Can’t select year from calendar unless you click back or forward to the actual month.
- Timestamp is included. Don’t need it.
- Relies on javascript and pop-up window to select date.
- Calendar doesn’t update well when moving from month to month. Part of the calendar doesn’t get loaded in so all days are not selectable. Have to manually widen window to see all days.
- Can’t select year directly, have to click through months to get to next year.
- No directions on how to modify output.
DateTimePick
- PROS
- I like the little calendar icon.
- Can modify output via provided directions.
- CONS
- Can’t select year from calendar unless you click back or forward to the actual month.
- Relies on javascript and pop-up window to select date.
- Calendar doesn’t update well when moving from month to month. Part of the calendar doesn’t get loaded in so all days are not selectable. Have to manually widen window to see all days.
- Can select year directly, but calendar doesn’t update well.
SpiffyCalendar
Sign up to the Yahoo! Group to download the script. Script used to be offered at the now defunct GeoCities. The above link is the first place I found it posted afterwards.
- PROS
- Calendar pops into page, not a separate window.
- Can modify output via provided directions.
- Can get help at Yahoo! Groups.
- Unrestricted license.
- Can refresh page containing calendars as link is not modified after picking a date or two.
- Highlights holidays, although will have to remove Dec 1st developer’s birthday. (OK, modified holiday array in script on lines 86-87.)
- CONS
- Format of date will have to be modified for MySQL. (OK, Added
"cal1.dateFormat="yyyy-MM-dd";after instantiation in header for calendar named ‘cal1’.) - Relies on javascript.
- Had to modify the images folder location in the .js file to an absolute address, although things worked fine on my local server with a relative address.
I’m sure there are plenty of these date-picker scripts floating around the Web. Do you have a different one to share with us? Leave a comment!