date Field Type¶

A field that allows the user to modify date information via a variety of different HTML elements.

The underlying data used for this field type can be a DateTime object, a string, a timestamp or an array. As long as the input option is set correctly, the field will take care of all of the details.

The field can be rendered as a single text box, three text boxes (month, day, and year) or three select boxes (see the widget_ option).

Underlying Data Type	can be `DateTime`, string, timestamp, or array (see the `input` option)
Rendered as	single text box or three select fields
Options	widget input empty_value years months days format pattern data_timezone user_timezone
Parent type	`field` (if text), `form` otherwise
Class	`Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\DateType`

Basic Usage¶

This field type is highly configurable, but easy to use. The most important options are input and widget.

Suppose that you have a publishedAt field whose underlying date is a DateTime object. The following configures the date type for that field as three different choice fields:

$builder->add('publishedAt', 'date', array(
    'input'  => 'datetime',
    'widget' => 'choice',
));

The input option must be changed to match the type of the underlying date data. For example, if the publishedAt field’s data were a unix timestamp, you’d need to set input to timestamp:

$builder->add('publishedAt', 'date', array(
    'input'  => 'timestamp',
    'widget' => 'choice',
));

The field also supports an array and string as valid input option values.

Field Options¶

input¶

type: string default: datetime

The format of the input data - i.e. the format that the date is stored on your underlying object. Valid values are:

string (e.g. 2011-06-05)
datetime (a DateTime object)
array (e.g. array('year' => 2011, 'month' => 06, 'day' => 05))
timestamp (e.g. 1307232000)

The value that comes back from the form will also be normalized back into this format.

empty_value¶

type: string or array

If your widget option is set to choice, then this field will be represented as a series of select boxes. The empty_value option can be used to add a “blank” entry to the top of each select box:

$builder->add('dueDate', 'date', array(
    'empty_value' => '',
));

Alternatively, you can specify a string to be displayed for the “blank” value:

$builder->add('dueDate', 'date', array(
    'empty_value' => array('year' => 'Year', 'month' => 'Month', 'day' => 'Day')
));

years¶

type: array default: five years before to five years after the current year

List of years available to the year field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice.

months¶

type: array default: 1 to 12

List of months available to the month field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice.

days¶

type: array default: 1 to 31

List of days available to the day field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice:

'days' => range(1,31)

format¶

type: integer or string default: IntlDateFormatter::MEDIUM

Option passed to the IntlDateFormatter class, used to transform user input into the proper format. This is critical when the widget option is set to single_text, and will define how the user will input the data. By default, the format is determined based on the current user locale; you can override it by passing the format as a string.

For more information on valid formats, see Date/Time Format Syntax. For example, to render a single text box that expects the user to end yyyy-MM-dd, use the following options:

$builder->add('date_created', 'date', array(
    'widget' => 'single_text',
    'format' => 'yyyy-MM-dd',
));

pattern¶

type: string

This option is only relevant when the widget is set to choice. The default pattern is based off the format option, and tries to match the characters M, d, and y in the format pattern. If no match is found, the default is the string {{ year }}-{{ month }}-{{ day }}. Tokens for this option include:

{{ year }}: Replaced with the year widget

{{ month }}: Replaced with the month widget

{{ day }}: Replaced with the day widget

data_timezone¶

type: string default: system default timezone

Timezone that the input data is stored in. This must be one of the PHP supported timezones

user_timezone¶