What's the best approach to get Date/Time input from the user?

Question

This is a wheel that\'s been re-invented again and again over the years.

The Problem: The user needs to input a Date/Time

Basic considerations

Answer 1

You need to check your UI requirements. If you want script-enabled support only, they you can go with any of your panopoly of scripts and run with whatever date/time format they provide into a hidden field.

However, if you need the user entry in a textbox, then you're faced with some decisions:

• Is the date/time format rigid? e.g. mm/dd/yyy hh:mm:ss format only?
• Or loosely defined, to allow for the "today", "tomorrow", "23 Jan" style entries?
• Will the formats be locale-specific? e.g. mm/dd/yyyy vs. dd/mm/yyyy

Validation methods depend on your decisions on requirements.

I like the jQuery date-picker plugin. It'll allow output in specific formats.