Category: Trendings

A date and time picker field helps you to collect date-related information on your WordPress forms.

For instance, if you want to gather your users’ birthdates or allow them to schedule appointments for your services easily via your forms.

Here, we will guide you on effortlessly creating WPforms with a date picker.

Benefits to Add Date Field in WordPress

When you add new form with date picker field, you give your users the benefit of choosing a custom date and time using the WPforms.

Use can use these WPforms with a date picker for the following purposes:

• 
  Registration Forms that require users to enter their birth dates.
• 
  Order Forms where users need to choose a delivery date and time.
• 
  Rental Item Forms that allow users to select a pick-up or drop-off date.
• 
  Callback Request Forms where users can specify when they want to be contacted.
• 
  Leave Request Forms enable employees to select a date range for leave.

A date range input field makes it much easier for users to insert dates than manually typing them.

Ensuring that the date and time format remains consistent across all form submissions is a great practice.

Therefore, having a WordPress form with a date picker helps reduce errors and improves the user experience.

Tutorial on adding WPforms with a date picker field

Using a date and time picker field helps you to schedule meetings, calls, and appointments.

However, you must learn how to add a date field in WordPress.

This section will help you understand how to add a date time picker for WPforms in 4 simple steps.

1. Install the WPForms Plugin and Choose a Template

To create WPforms with a date picker, you must first install WPForms, the best contact form plugin available.

After activating WPForms, go to WPForms > Add New page from your WordPress dashboard.

To add a date field in WordPress, navigate to the ‘Select a Template‘ page.

It’s always a good idea to give your form a name so that you can quickly identify it later.

Here, you will find a variety of pre-made form templates, many of which already include a date and time picker field.

We will use the Simple Contact Form template to add WPforms with a date picker.

However, feel free to select the template that best suits your needs.

Once you choose your template, click the ‘Use Template‘ button to create WPform.

2. Install the WPForms Plugin and Choose a Template

By default, the Simple Contact Form only has the name, email address, and comments field added to the form.

In the left column, scroll down to the Fancy Fields section, where you will find the “Date/Time” field.

Drag and drop this date range and time field to the desired location on your form.

Here, we have placed it just below the Email field.

After adding the field, click on the “Date/Time” field to edit it. To open up the “Field Options” tab on the left-hand side of your screen, please follow these steps.

From here, you can change the field label, date format, and description text to give more context for what the user needs to enter in the field.

You can also check the ‘Required’ box to make this a mandatory field.

It seems that the WPforms with a date picker requires the user to select a specific date range and time before they can successfully submit it.

Once you have made all the necessary changes, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your form settings.

Today’s Tip

If you want to ensure that your users can easily input specific dates for their stay using the WPforms with a date picker, then use the Hotel Reservation Form template. This template is specifically designed to include two date picker fields, one for the arrival date and one for the departure date, making it incredibly simple for your users to select the dates they want to stay.

3. Configure the Advanced Options for the Date Time Picker

After adding the date picker field to a WordPress form, the question arises, “How to change date format in WPforms?“

The WPforms with a date picker field has a default calendar and a time dropdown menu. This section will explain how to change the date format in the WPforms.

The current date range is selected by default, but the user can choose a different date. The date format is month/day/year, while the time dropdown defaults to a 12-hour clock with 30-minute intervals.

Users can select a time slot that suits them. However, sometimes you may need to change the date and time picker field settings.

For instance, if your country follows the day/month/year or 24-hour date and time formats instead of the default ones.

You need to switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab at the top of the left-side panel.

To customize the size of the date picker field, simply navigate to the Date section and make the necessary adjustments.

If the form has limited space and the default calendar view looks too small, you can switch to a date dropdown menu instead.

Adding WPforms with a date picker will make your users’ experience more user-friendly and make it easier for them to select a date from a list.

You can also change the date format in WPforms from month/day/year to day/month/year.

If you choose the calendar date picker, you can insert placeholder text in the “Date” field to let users know what format you are using so they don’t get confused.

To adjust the date range that can be selected, you can enable the “Limit Days” switch. This is particularly useful if you want to disable past dates and operate only on certain days of the week.

You can also disable past dates to prevent users from selecting previous dates.

In the “Time” section, you can change the interval to 15 minutes or 1 hour instead of 30 minutes. You can also input placeholder text to show your time format.

• The time picker defaults to a 12-hour clock, but you can switch to a 24-hour clock.
• You can also turn on the ‘Limit Hours’ setting to specify the start and end times of your services.
• You can enter a CSS class name for the date picker field to override the form’s style using code later.

Lastly, you can hide the form field label and sub-label if necessary.

Once you are satisfied with your form, you can save it as WPforms with a date picker by clicking the “Save” button at the top right corner of the screen.

4. Embed the WordPress Form on Your Website

To add your new WPforms with a date picker to your website, click the ‘Embed’ button at the top of the form builder.

This will bring up a pop-up asking you to either select an existing page to add the new form with a date picker or create a new page for the form from scratch.

If you want to add the form to an existing page, click the ‘Select Existing Page‘ button and choose one of the pages on your WordPress website.

If you prefer to add WPforms with a date picker to a new page, click the ‘Create New Page’ button and give the new page a name.

Both options will take you to the block editor, where you can add the date field in WordPress form block to the page.

To do this, click the ‘+’ add block button, type ‘WPForms’ into the search bar, and drag and drop the block to where you want it on the page.

Next, click the dropdown menu and select the WPforms with a date picker that you just created.

In the Block settings sidebar, you can customize the form field, label, and button styles to match your WordPress theme.

You can also change each element’s size, border radius, and colors.

Once satisfied with the settings, click the “Update” or “Publish” button to make the form live on your website.

If you want to add the WPforms with a date picker to a post instead of a page,

you can create a new post or open an existing one in the block editor and follow the same steps.

Different ways to use WPForms with a Date Picker

In this section, you will learn how to use the date picker form as a widget or embed it as a shortcode.

It will help you quickly integrate your WPforms date picker on your website.

• 
  Method 1

WP form with Date Picker as a Widget

Below are the easy steps to add the WPforms Block to a Widget-Ready Area.

You can display it if you have a classic WordPress theme and your form is short enough to fit in a widget-ready header, footer, or sidebar area.

To add the WPforms block to such an area, go to Appearance > Widgets in the WordPress admin area.

Afterward, find the widget-ready area where you want your form to appear, and click the white ‘+’ add block button inside it.

Then, search for the WP Forms block and select the form you want to add.

You can customize the design in the Block settings sidebar to match your WordPress theme.

Once done, click the “Update” button to save your changes.

• 
  Method 2

Use Date Picker form as a Shortcode

Remember that this method won’t work if you use a block theme.

Alternatively, you can embed your WPforms with a date picker using a shortcode.

If the WPForms block or widget doesn’t work, click the ‘Use a shortcode’ link in the ‘Embed in a Page’ popup.

You will see a shortcode you can copy and paste into a page, post, or widget-ready area.

Customizing WPForms Date Picker Settings

Customizing date picker settings enables developers to “optimize the user experience“

by fine-tuning how users select dates in web forms or applications. Let’s start with setting a date ranges:

1. Setting Date Ranges

Let’s discuss about setting date ranges in your WPforms date picker. To set a date range, you’ll usually need to define a start date and an end date.

Here’s how you might do it:

• 
  Choose a minimum date (the earliest date users can select)
• 
  Set a maximum date (the latest date users can pick)

For example, if you’re booking a vacation, you might want to set the range from today to one year from now.

This way, users can’t book too far in advance or choose dates in the past.

For example, if you’re booking a vacation, you might want to set the range from today to one year from now.

This way, users can’t book too far in advance or choose dates in the past.

Pro Tip

Consider your users needs when setting date ranges. Too wide a range can be overwhelming, while too narrow might be restrictive.

2. Formatting Date Display

Now, let’s make those dates look good! Formatting your date display is all about making the dates easy for your users to read and understand.

Here are some common date formats:

• 
  MM/DD/YYYY (like 12/25/2023)
• 
  DD/MM/YYYY (like 25/12/2023)
• 
  YYYY-MM-DD (like 2023-12-25)

Remember, different countries have different date formats. It’s a good idea to use the most common format in your target area or give users the option to choose their preferred format.

You can also get creative with how you display the date. Maybe you want to spell out the month or add the day of the week.

Just make sure it’s clear and easy to understand!

3. Adding Placeholder Text

Placeholder text is super helpful for guiding your users. You see that light gray text in an input field of the WPforms date picker before you start typing.

For a date picker, your placeholder might look something like this:

• 
  Select a Date
• 
  MM/DD/YYYY
• 
  Start Date – End Date (for a range picker)

The key is to make it clear what kind of input you’re looking for.

Your placeholder should give users a hint about the expected format or what they’re supposed to do.

4. Configuring Date Restrictions

Sometimes, you don’t want users to be able to select certain dates. That’s where date restrictions come in handy.

You might want to restrict dates for a few reasons:

• 
  To prevent bookings on holidays
• 
  To block out dates that are already full
• 
  To stop users from selecting weekends for business appointments

To set these up, you’ll usually need to create an array of restricted dates or define rules for what dates should be unavailable.

5. Testing your WPforms Date Picker

Alright, you’ve set everything up. Now it’s time to make sure it all works smoothly!

Here’s a quick checklist for testing your WPforms date picker:

• 
  Try selecting dates within the allowed range
• 
  Attempt to pick dates outside the range
• 
  Test all format options if you’re allowing users to change formats
• 
  Make sure restricted dates can’t be selected
• 
  Check that the placeholder text displays correctly
• 
  Test on different devices and browsers

With these tips, you’ll have a user-friendly, fully customized date picker in no time.

Conclusion

WPforms date picker on your website helps your users understand more about your services. They will also be able to understand your working pattern and value your work timings.

Hence, it will help you and your website serve your visitors more profoundly and answer their queries shortly.