JavaScript date objects UK dates

Question

I have the following code

 datePicker.change(function(){
        dateSet = datePicker.val();
        dateMinimum = dateChange();
        dateSetD = new Date(dateSet);
        dateMinimumD = new Date(dateMinimum);
        if(dateSetD<dateMinimumD){
            datePicker.val(dateMinimum);
            alert('You can not amend down due dates');
        }       
    })

dateSet = "01/07/2010" dateMinimum = "23/7/2010"

Both are UK format. When the date objects are compared dateSetD should be less than dateMinimumD but it is not. I think it is to do with the facts I am using UK dates dd/mm/yyyy. What would I need to change to get this working?

Answer 1

• Split the date into day, month, year parts using dateSet.split('/')
• Pass these parts in the right order to the Date constructor.

Answer 2

The JavaScript Date constructor doesn't parse strings in that form (whether in UK or U.S. format). See the spec for details, but you can construct the dates part by part:

new Date(year, month, day);

This library might be useful for dealing with dates flexibly.

Answer 3

Yes, there is problem with the date format you are using. If you are not setting a date format the default date that is used is 'mm/dd/yy. So you should set your preferred date formate when you create it as following when you create the date picker:

$(".selector" ).datepicker({ dateFormat: 'dd/mm/yyyy' });

or you can set it later as:

$.datepicker.formatDate('dd/mm/yyyy');

Answer 4

When you try to create a date object:

new Date(year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds)

Example:

dateSetD = new Date(dateSet.year, dateSet.month, dateSet.day);

Note: JavaScript Date object's month starts with 00, so you need to adjust your dateset accordingly.