How can I make a DateTimePicker display an empty string?

Question

I would like to be able to display a DateTimePicker that has a default value of nothing, i.e. no date.

For example, I have a start date dtTaskStar

Answer 1

Better to use text box for calling/displaying date and while saving use DateTimePicker. Make visible property true or false as per requirement.

For eg : During form load make Load date in Textbox and make DTPIcker invisible and while adding vice versa

Answer 2

Just set the property as follows:

When the user press "clear button" or "delete key" do

dtpData.CustomFormat = " "  'An empty SPACE
dtpData.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom

On DateTimePicker1_ValueChanged event do

dtpData.CustomFormat = "dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss"

Answer 3

this worked for me for c#

if (enableEndDateCheckBox.Checked == true)
{
    endDateDateTimePicker.Enabled = true;
    endDateDateTimePicker.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Short;                
}
else
{
    endDateDateTimePicker.Enabled = false;
    endDateDateTimePicker.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
    endDateDateTimePicker.CustomFormat = " ";
}

nice one guys!

Answer 4

Listen , Make Following changes in your code if you want to show empty datetimepicker and get null when no date is selected by user, else save date.

1. Set datetimepicker FORMAT property to custom.
2. set CUSTOM FORMAT property to empty string " ".
3. set its TAG to 0 by default.
4. Register Event for datetimepicker VALUECHANGED.

Now real work starts

if user will interact with datetimepicker its VALUECHANGED event will be called and there set its TAG property to 1.

Final Step

Now when saving, check if its TAG is zero, then save NULL date else if TAG is 1 then pick and save Datetime picker value.

It Works like a charm.

Now if you want its value be changed back to empty by user interaction, then add checkbox and show text "Clear" with this checkbox. if user wants to clear date, simply again set its CUSTOM FORMAT property to empty string " ", and set its TAG back to 0. Thats it..

Answer 5

Obfuscating the value by using the CustomFormat property, using checkbox cbEnableEndDate as the flag to indicate whether other code should ignore the value:

If dateTaskEnd > Date.FromOADate(0) Then
    dtTaskEnd.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom
    dtTaskEnd.CustomFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd"
    dtTaskEnd.Value = dateTaskEnd 
    dtTaskEnd.Enabled = True
    cbEnableEndDate.Checked = True
Else
    dtTaskEnd.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom
    dtTaskEnd.CustomFormat = " "
    dtTaskEnd.Value = Date.FromOADate(0)
    dtTaskEnd.Enabled = False
    cbEnableEndDate.Checked = False
End If

Answer 6

When I want to display an empty date value I do this

            if (sStrDate != "")
            {
                dateCreated.Value = DateTime.Parse(sStrDate);
            }
            else
            {
                dateCreated.CustomFormat = " ";
                dateCreated.Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Custom;
            }

Then when the user clicks on the control I have this:

            private void dateControl_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
            {
                ((DateTimePicker)sender).Format = DateTimePickerFormat.Long;    
            }

This allows you to display and use an empty date value, but still allow the user to be able to change the date to something when they wish.

Keep in mind that sStrDate has already been validated as a valid date string.