Using Date and Time Pickers

Tutorial 2 of 5

1. Introduction

In this tutorial, we cover the basics of using HTML5's date and time pickers. Date and time pickers provide a user-friendly way to input date and time information on a web page.

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:
- Understand how to use the date and time pickers in HTML5
- Implement these pickers in your web forms
- Validate user input

The only prerequisite for this tutorial is a basic understanding of HTML.

2. Step-by-Step Guide

HTML5 introduced several new input types, including date and time. These input types are used to capture date and time from the user in a standard format.

Example of Date Picker

<!-- This is how to implement a date picker in HTML -->
<input type="date" id="myDate" name="chosenDate">

The type="date" attribute specifies that we want to create a date picker.

Example of Time Picker

<!-- This is how to implement a time picker in HTML -->
<input type="time" id="myTime" name="chosenTime">

The type="time" attribute specifies that we want to create a time picker.

3. Code Examples

Let's look at some practical examples:

Example 1: Date Picker

<!-- This is an example of a date picker in a form -->
<form action="/submit-date">
  <label for="birthday">Choose your birthday:</label>
  <input type="date" id="birthday" name="birthday">
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

This code creates a form with a date picker for the user to select their birthday. When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the data is sent to the "/submit-date" URL.

Example 2: Time Picker

<!-- This is an example of a time picker in a form -->
<form action="/submit-time">
  <label for="alarm">Set your alarm:</label>
  <input type="time" id="alarm" name="alarm">
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

This code creates a form with a time picker for the user to set their alarm. When the user clicks the "Submit" button, the data is sent to the "/submit-time" URL.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, we've learned how to use date and time pickers in HTML5. We've seen how to implement these pickers in a form and how they can make it easier for users to input date and time information in a standardized format.

Next, you can learn how to validate the data from these pickers using JavaScript or a backend language like PHP or Node.js. You can also explore other HTML5 form enhancements like range sliders and color pickers.

Additional resources:
- HTML input types on MDN
- HTML5 Tutorial on W3Schools

5. Practice Exercises

  1. Create a form with a date picker for choosing a start date and an end date.
  2. Create a form with a time picker for setting a start time and an end time.
  3. Combine both exercises above to create a form for setting a start and end date and time.

Solutions:

  1. Here's how you can create a form with two date pickers:
<form action="/submit-dates">
  <label for="startDate">Start date:</label>
  <input type="date" id="startDate" name="startDate">
  <label for="endDate">End date:</label>
  <input type="date" id="endDate" name="endDate">
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
  1. Here's how you can create a form with two time pickers:
<form action="/submit-times">
  <label for="startTime">Start time:</label>
  <input type="time" id="startTime" name="startTime">
  <label for="endTime">End time:</label>
  <input type="time" id="endTime" name="endTime">
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
  1. Finally, here's how you can combine both to create a form for setting a start and end date and time:
<form action="/submit-dates-times">
  <label for="startDate">Start date:</label>
  <input type="date" id="startDate" name="startDate">
  <label for="startTime">Start time:</label>
  <input type="time" id="startTime" name="startTime">
  <label for="endDate">End date:</label>
  <input type="date" id="endDate" name="endDate">
  <label for="endTime">End time:</label>
  <input type="time" id="endTime" name="endTime">
  <input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>