Formatted dates (client-side with Moment.js)

Identical in display to the server-side formatting example this example differs in that the data received from the server and submitted to it on form edit is unformatted (i.e. ISO 8601) and translated into human readable format by Moment.js in the browser, both for display in the table columns and in the Editor form field input.

In the table columns we use a DataTables' datetime renderer to display the data in the desired format. This allows sorting to be done on the ISO 8601 data (i.e. it will be sorted correctly), while the end user will see only the formatted date.

In Editor's datetime input we use displayFormat to describe the format the end user should see, and wireFormat to tell it that the wire format (i.e. the actual value) is in a different format (typically this will be ISO 8601).

First name Last name Updated date Registered date
  • Javascript
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • Ajax
  • Server-side script
  • Comments

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

var editor = new DataTable.Editor({ ajax: '../php/dates.php', fields: [ { label: 'First name:', name: 'first_name' }, { label: 'Last name:', name: 'last_name' }, { label: 'Updated date:', name: 'updated_date', type: 'datetime', def: function () { return new Date(); }, displayFormat: 'M/D/YYYY', wireFormat: 'YYYY-MM-DD', fieldInfo: 'US style m/d/y format', keyInput: false }, { label: 'Registered date:', name: 'registered_date', type: 'datetime', def: function () { return new Date(); }, displayFormat: 'dddd D MMMM YYYY', wireFormat: 'YYYY-MM-DD', fieldInfo: 'Verbose date format' } ], table: '#example' }); $('#example').DataTable({ ajax: '../php/dates.php', columns: [ { data: 'first_name' }, { data: 'last_name' }, { data: 'updated_date', render: DataTable.render.datetime('M/D/YYYY') }, { data: 'registered_date', render: DataTable.render.datetime('dddd D MMMM YYYY') } ], layout: { topStart: { buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor: editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor: editor }, { extend: 'remove', editor: editor } ] } }, select: true });
const editor = new DataTable.Editor({ ajax: '../php/dates.php', fields: [ { label: 'First name:', name: 'first_name' }, { label: 'Last name:', name: 'last_name' }, { label: 'Updated date:', name: 'updated_date', type: 'datetime', def: () => new Date(), displayFormat: 'M/D/YYYY', wireFormat: 'YYYY-MM-DD', fieldInfo: 'US style m/d/y format', keyInput: false }, { label: 'Registered date:', name: 'registered_date', type: 'datetime', def: () => new Date(), displayFormat: 'dddd D MMMM YYYY', wireFormat: 'YYYY-MM-DD', fieldInfo: 'Verbose date format' } ], table: '#example' }); const table = new DataTable('#example', { ajax: '../php/dates.php', columns: [ { data: 'first_name' }, { data: 'last_name' }, { data: 'updated_date', render: DataTable.render.datetime('M/D/YYYY') }, { data: 'registered_date', render: DataTable.render.datetime('dddd D MMMM YYYY') } ], layout: { topStart: { buttons: [ { extend: 'create', editor: editor }, { extend: 'edit', editor: editor }, { extend: 'remove', editor: editor } ] } }, select: true });

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

    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:

      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 interaction for this demo is shown below. This server uses PHP, so the PHP script is shown, however our download packages include the equivalent script for other platforms, including .NET and Node.js. Server-side scripts can be written in any language, using the protocol described in the Editor documentation.

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