Question

I was checking out this link:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/stuartleeks/archive/2011/01/25/asp-net-mvc-3-integrating-with-the-jquery-ui-date-picker-and-adding-a-jquery-validate-date-range-validator.aspx

which describes creating a jquery datepicker for MVC for date selections in edits.

Sure the tutorial works fine but only works for edits and not creates.

It has a model of:

public class Foo
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        [DataType(DataType.Date)]
        public DateTime Date { get; set; }
    }

I modified its edit to create a create like:

@model DatePickerTemp.Models.FooEditModel @{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; } <h2>
    Create</h2> 
@Model.Message
@using (Html.BeginForm())
{ 
    @Html.EditorFor(m => m.Foo)
    <input id="submit" name="submit" type="submit" value="Save" />
}

}

The other code uses some jquery:

$(document).ready(function () {
    $('.date').datepicker({dateFormat: "dd/mm/yy"});
});

for anything with class .date:

There is another piece of code:

@model DateTime
@Html.TextBox("", Model.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"), new { @class = "date" })

which sets the class on the objects of type:

[DataType(DataType.Date)]

to create a jquery datepicker.

The problem is this type is a non nullable type so when you run the create you get:

The model item passed into the dictionary is null, but this dictionary requires a non-null model item of type 'System.DateTime'.

Does anyone know how to modify the code to make the create work?

Answer 1

Something like:

 @model DateTime?
    @Html.TextBox("", Model.HasValue && Model.Value != DateTime.MinValue ? Model.Value.ToString("dd MMM yyyy") : string.Empty, new { @class = "datePicker" })