Cannot change date format for set date - jquery datepicker

Question

I want to change the date format of a set date to "dd.mm.yy"!

For me it should work like in my code but set date will display "11/19/2011" in place of "19.11.2011"

When I pick a date the format is right!

<script type="text/javascript">
 $(function() {
        $("#datepicker").datepicker();
        $('#datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'dd.mm.yy' });
        $('#datepicker').datepicker("setDate", "+3");

    });     

 /* German initialisation for the jQuery UI date picker plugin. */
jQuery(function($){
    $.datepicker.regional['de'] = {
        closeText: 'schließen',
        prevText: '&#x3c;zurück',
        nextText: 'Vor&#x3e;',
        currentText: 'heute',
        monthNames: ['Januar','Februar','März','April','Mai','Juni',
        'Juli','August','September','Oktober','November','Dezember'],
        monthNamesShort: ['Jan','Feb','Mär','Apr','Mai','Jun',
        'Jul','Aug','Sep','Okt','Nov','Dez'],
        dayNames: ['Sonntag','Montag','Dienstag','Mittwoch','Donnerstag','Freitag','Samstag'],
        dayNamesShort: ['So','Mo','Di','Mi','Do','Fr','Sa'],
        dayNamesMin: ['So','Mo','Di','Mi','Do','Fr','Sa'],
        weekHeader: 'Wo',
        dateFormat: 'dd.mm.yy',
        firstDay: 1,
        isRTL: false,
        showMonthAfterYear: false,
        yearSuffix: ''};
    $.datepicker.setDefaults($.datepicker.regional['de']);
});
</script>

Answer 1

I get it!!

in this line

$("#datepicker").datepicker();

the datepicker will be initialized! thereby the default date format is used!

that means the format has to be defined direct in the initialization like

$('#datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'dd.mm.yy' }); 

or after the initialization via setters

$('#datepicker').datepicker();
    $( "#datepicker" ).datepicker( "option", "dateFormat", 'dd.mm.yy' ); 

both variants work!

Answer 2

Does this help:

$(function() {
       var m = new Date("01","10","2011");
            m = $.datepicker.formatDate('dd MM yy', m);
            $('#datepicker').datepicker("setDate",m);
    });     

The above code worked for me in case of setting date. Hope it works for you too.