# Editor example Dates (with jQuery UI datepicker)

Working with different field input types is a mainstay of Editor, and date inputs are no exception. Editing date fields is a traditionally fairly complex due to the number of formatting variations, however, Editor makes editing date fields trivial through its `dateE` field type.

The `dateE` type will use jQuery UI's date picker if it is available on the page, or the HTML 5 `<input type="date">` tag if jQuery UI is not available. This example shows jQuery UI being used to present a comprehensive date picker, with formatting options.

This example show two date input fields in the table, both of which have a default value of today's date through the use of the the `fields.defE` option, returning the current date, while each field uses a different display format through the `dateFormat` option of the `dateE` field type.

First name | Last name | Updated date | Registered date
--- | --- | --- | ---

- Javascript
- HTML
- CSS
- Ajax
- Server-side script

The Javascript shown below is used to initialise the table shown in this example:

`var editor; // use a global for the submit and return data rendering in the examples $(document).ready(function() { editor = new $.fn.dataTable.Editor( { "ajax": "../php/dates.php", "table": "#example", "fields": [ { label: "First name:", name: "first_name" }, { label: "Last name:", name: "last_name" }, { label: "Updated date:", name: "updated_date", type: "date", def: function () { return new Date(); }, dateFormat: $.datepicker.ISO_8601 }, { label: "Registered date:", name: "registered_date", type: "date", def: function () { return new Date(); }, dateFormat: 'D, d M y' } ] } ); $('#example').dataTable( { dom: "Tfrtip", ajax: "../php/dates.php", columns: [ { data: "first_name" }, { data: "last_name" }, { data: "updated_date" }, { data: "registered_date" } ], tableTools: { sRowSelect: "os", aButtons: [ { sExtends: "editor_create", editor: editor }, { sExtends: "editor_edit", editor: editor }, { sExtends: "editor_remove", editor: editor } ] } } ); } );`

In addition to the above code, the following Javascript library files are loaded for use in this example:

- ../../../../media/js/jquery.js
- //code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/jquery-ui.js
- ../../../../media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
- ../../../TableTools/js/dataTables.tableTools.js
- ../../js/dataTables.editor.js

The HTML shown below is the raw HTML table element, before it has been enhanced by DataTables:

This example uses a little bit of additional CSS beyond what is loaded from the library files (below), in order to correctly display the table. The additional CSS used is shown below:

``

The following CSS library files are loaded for use in this example to provide the styling of the table:

- //code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/themes/smoothness/jquery-ui.css
- ../../../../media/css/jquery.dataTables.css
- ../../../TableTools/css/dataTables.tableTools.css
- ../../css/dataTables.editor.css

This table loads data by Ajax. The latest data that has been loaded is shown below. This data will update automatically as any additional data is loaded.

The script used to perform the server-side processing for this table is shown below. Please note that this is just an example script using PHP. Server-side processing scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the DataTables documentation.