Question

The $model->datetime is d-m-Y H:i:s.

<?php echo $form->textField($model,'datetime'); ?>

I would like the value of the input just be d-m-Y, how can I format it?

Answer 1

One option would be to convert the date to a human readable format to display it, and then back to the format needed by the database before you save. You could edit/create the afterFind() method in your model to convert the date to a human readable format, something like so:

public function afterFind()
{
    $newDate = DateTime::createFromFormat('d-m-Y H:i:s', $this->datetime);
    $this->datetime = $newDate->format('d-m-Y');

    return parent::afterFind();
}

And again before you save by editing/creating your model’s beforeSave() method, for example something like:

public function beforeSave()
{
    $newDate = DateTime::createFromFormat('d-m-Y', $this->datetime);
    $this->datetime = $newDate->format('d-m-Y H:i:s');

    return parent::beforeSave();
}

Note that when you save, the hour, minute and second will always be 0 in the examples above. You’d also need to put some validation to make sure your user input was in the correct d-m-Y format too, or the date conversion won’t work.

*Fixed typo newdate->newDate