JQuery DatePicker, how to highlight current input value date?

Question

I'm using the datepicker control for jquery and all is well except that I cannot get it to highlight the currently selected input value (or the current date for that matter). Even though I have s valid date value in my text input and can get the datepicker to return the correct month / year, I cannot get it to highlight that date on the calendar.

Here is my code:

$('.date_picker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'dd/mm/yy', duration: '', gotoCurrent: true, defaultDate: -1});

..and here is the stylesheet:

/*datepicker*/
/* Main Style Sheet for jQuery UI date picker */
.ui-datepicker-div, .ui-datepicker-inline, #ui-datepicker-div {
    /*resets*/margin: 0; padding: 0; border: 0; outline: 0; line-height: 1.3; text-decoration: none; font-size: 100%; list-style: none;
    font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;
    background: #ffffff url(images/ffffff_40x100_textures_01_flat_0.png) 0 0 repeat-x;
    font-size: 0.80em;
    border: 4px solid #dddddd;
    width: 15.5em;
    padding: 2.5em .5em .5em .5em;
    position: relative;
}
.ui-datepicker-div, #ui-datepicker-div {
    z-index: 9999; /*must have*/
    display: none;
}
.ui-datepicker-inline {
    float: left;
    display: block;
}
.ui-datepicker-control {
    display: none;
}
.ui-datepicker-current {
    display: none;
}
.ui-datepicker-next, .ui-datepicker-prev {
    position: absolute;
    left: .5em;
    top: .5em;
    background: #e6e6e6 url(images/e6e6e6_40x100_textures_02_glass_75.png) 0 50% repeat-x;
}
.ui-datepicker-next {
    left: 14.6em;
}
.ui-datepicker-next:hover, .ui-datepicker-prev:hover {
    background: #dadada url(images/dadada_40x100_textures_02_glass_75.png) 0 50% repeat-x;
}
.ui-datepicker-next a, .ui-datepicker-prev a {
    text-indent: -999999px;
    width: 1.3em;
    height: 1.4em;
    display: block;
    font-size: 1em;
    background: url(images/888888_7x7_arrow_left.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
    border: 1px solid #d3d3d3;
    cursor: pointer;
}
.ui-datepicker-next a {
    background: url(images/888888_7x7_arrow_right.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
}
.ui-datepicker-prev a:hover {
    background: url(images/454545_7x7_arrow_left.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
}
.ui-datepicker-next a:hover {
    background: url(images/454545_7x7_arrow_right.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
}
.ui-datepicker-prev a:active {
    background: url(images/222222_7x7_arrow_left.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
}
.ui-datepicker-next a:active {
    background: url(images/222222_7x7_arrow_right.gif) 50% 50% no-repeat;
}
.ui-datepicker-header select {
    border: 1px solid #d3d3d3;
    color: #555555;
    background: #e6e6e6;
    font-size: 1em;
    line-height: 1.4em;
    position: absolute;
    top: .5em;
    margin: 0 !important;
}
.ui-datepicker-header option:focus, .ui-datepicker-header option:hover {
    background: #dadada;
}
.ui-datepicker-header select.ui-datepicker-new-month {
    width: 7em;
    left: 2.2em;
}
.ui-datepicker-header select.ui-datepicker-new-year {
    width: 5em;
    left: 9.4em;
}
table.ui-datepicker {
    width: 15.5em;
    text-align: right;
}
table.ui-datepicker td a {
    padding: .1em .3em .1em 0;
    display: block;
    color: #555555;
    background: #e6e6e6 url(images/e6e6e6_40x100_textures_02_glass_75.png) 0 50% repeat-x;
    cursor: pointer;
    border: 1px solid #ffffff;
}
table.ui-datepicker td a:hover {
    border: 1px solid #999999;
    color: #212121;
    background: #dadada url(images/dadada_40x100_textures_02_glass_75.png) 0 50% repeat-x;
}
table.ui-datepicker td a:active {
    border: 1px solid #dddddd;
    color: #222222;
    background: #ffffff url(images/ffffff_40x100_textures_02_glass_65.png) 0 50% repeat-x;
}
table.ui-datepicker .ui-datepicker-title-row td {
    padding: .3em 0;
    text-align: center;
    font-size: .9em;
    color: #222222;
    text-transform: uppercase;
}
table.ui-datepicker .ui-datepicker-title-row td a {
    color: #222222;
}
.ui-datepicker-cover {
    display: none;
    display/**/: block;
    position: absolute;
    z-index: -1;
    filter: mask();
    top: -4px;
    left: -4px;
    width: 193px;
    height: 200px;
}

I'm using IE7 to test, but I see the same behaviour in Firefox.

Any ideas as to the problem?

Answer 1

First of all, which browser(s) are you viewing the datepicker in? I have noticed that some colouring of dates/sections within the datepicker look different in IE6 compared to later browsers (Firefox 3, Chrome, IE7).

For example, IE6 appears to ignore the background colour for weekend days.

The background colour of the currently selected date and today's date are both controlled through CSS. The default CSS for the last datepicker is the main flora style sheet, although I see that there is a new version/stylesheet of the datepicker (I haven't had a proper read yet, I believe it may be a new version) on the jQuery site this week.

The relevant default names of the classes within the stylesheet that you would need to change the background colours for are -

 /* current input value background color */
.ui-datepicker-current-day
{
    background: #83C948
}
/* today's background color */
.ui-datepicker-today 
{
    background: #83C948
}

EDIT:

If you are using the old Datepicker as is, then these are the relevant lines in the plugin js file-

this._currentClass = 'ui-datepicker-current-day'; 
// The name of the current day marker class


(printDate.getTime() == today.getTime() ? ' ui-datepicker-today' : '')) + '"' + ...
// highlight today (if different)

Therefore, you will either

• need these CSS classes in your CSS stylesheet to highlight today and currently selected date

or

• you will need to change the names in the plugin js file and use the same names for classes in your CSS stylesheet

Personally, I would opt for the former as they are they are the commonly known class names.

EDIT 2:

It appears that the new datepicker uses slightly different CSS to colour current selected date and today's date. Whereas the previous version styled the table cell (td) element, the new version styles the anchor (a) element inside the cell.

Using Firebug in Firefox 3 (highly recommended), the CSS to colour today appears to be

.ui-state-highlight, .ui-widget-content .ui-state-highlight 
{
    background:#FFE45C url(../images/?new=ffe45c&w=1&h=100&f=png&q=100&fltr[]=over|textures/03_highlight_soft.png|0|0|75) repeat-x scroll 50% top;
    border:1px solid #FED22F;
    color:#363636;
}

and for the current selected date in the input, it is

.ui-state-active, .ui-widget-content .ui-state-active 
{
    background:#FFFFFF url(../images/?new=ffffff&w=1&h=400&f=png&q=100&fltr[]=over|textures/02_glass.png|0|0|65) repeat-x scroll 50% 50%;
    border:1px solid #FBD850;
    color:#EB8F00;
    font-weight:bold;
    outline-color:-moz-use-text-color;
    outline-style:none;
    outline-width:medium;
}

These both come from the jQuery UI CSS Framework