Question

I’m looking for a solution to this basic problem: I’m using a jquery plugin (datepicker) to let users pick a date. How should this be used in the django form?

A formset doesn’t seem the right solution, but neither does making and calling my own widget. Rather than continue to try new options, I’m looking for some direction. Here is a simple test scenario.

models.py

    class DateTest(models.Model):
        date_nm = models.CharField(max_length=120)
        fromdate = models.DateTimeField()

forms.py

def datetest_save_page(request):
    if request.method == 'POST': 
        form = DateTestSaveForm(request.POST)
        if form.is_valid():
            date_nm, dummy = DateTest.objects.get_or_create(
                date_nm=form.cleaned_data['date_nm']
            )
            fromdate = form.cleaned_data['fromdate']
            return HttpResponseRedirect('datetest_page.html') 
    else:
        form = DateTestSaveForm()
    return render_to_response('datetest_save.html', {
        'form': form,
    })

forms.py

class DateTestSaveForm(forms.Form):
    date_nm = forms.CharField(
        label=u'Date Name',
        max_length=30
    )
    fromdate = forms.DateTimeField()

I have my datepicker set up in my base.html and called in datetest_save.html. It calls and I can pick a date just find, but I don’t know how to take the date that I select and stick it into my database.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

There’s actually quite a few jQuery plugins named “datepicker” so it’s hard to know which you might be using here. However, if you don’t want to create a custom form field, you’ll need to find a library that offers someway to customize the date format used. Specifically, the field value will need to be in the format: “YYYY-MM-DD”.

If you can’t or otherwise don’t want to have the date in that format, then you’ll have to create a custom form field that will automatically parse your chosen date format into something usable by Django.