Question

I’m using the jQuery date picker widget and it works nicely but I’m confused as to how to set the initial year, in the drop down.

Here’s my code:

$(function() {      
        $( "#datepicker" ).datepicker();
        $.datepicker.setDefaults( {changeYear: true , yearRange: '1900:1998',gotoCurrent: true});
    });

This produces the correct calendar, but sets the initial year as 1900. I don’t want the user to have to scroll through a hundred years of options and would like to have the year that pops up default to 1998. Is this simply not possible? Or am I overlooking a setting in the doc?

Answer 1

lol, “you’re doing it wrong” 😛

You dont need .setDefaults

$(function() {
    $("#datepicker").datepicker({
        changeYear: true,
        defaultDate: new Date(1998, 1 - 1, 1), // <-- look at this line!!!
        gotoCurrent: true,
        yearRange: '1900:1998'
    });
})

For more information on default date format see here

see Scott‘s jsFiddle with working Css 😛

ALSO

I would suggest doing it more like this:

$(function() {
     $("#datepicker").datepicker({
        changeMonth: true,
        changeYear: true,
        defaultDate: new Date(1998, 0, 1), 
        gotoCurrent: true,
        yearRange: '-70:1998'
    });
});​