ASP.NET Web Forms Calendar Control: Implementing Date Selection in Web Forms

Learn how to use the ASP.NET Calendar control to add interactive date selection to your web forms. This tutorial covers implementation, key properties for customization (selected date, date format, etc.), and handling selected date values on the server-side, enhancing user interaction and data input.

ASP.NET Web Forms Calendar Control

What is the Calendar Control?

The ASP.NET Calendar control provides a visual calendar interface for users to select dates. It's a server-side control, meaning it's processed on the server, and it can display dates and potentially associated data.

Creating a Calendar Control

You can add a Calendar control to your web form by dragging it from the Visual Studio toolbox. Alternatively, you can add it directly to your ASPX code.

Here's an example of how to create a Calendar control in your ASPX page, setting the initially selected date to June 15th, 2017:

Code

<asp:Calendar ID="Calendar1" runat="server" SelectedDate="2017-06-15" />

Calendar Control Properties

The Calendar control has many properties to customize its look and behavior. Here are some key ones:

  • SelectedDate: Sets the initially selected date.
  • NextMonthText, TitleFormat: Customize the appearance of the calendar's header and navigation buttons.
  • DayHeaderStyle, DayStyle, NextPrevStyle: Control the styling of different parts of the calendar (days, headers, navigation buttons).
  • Other properties control appearance (e.g., BackColor, ForeColor, Font, ToolTip).

Example: Calendar with Selection

This example shows how to use the Calendar control and display the user's selected date on the page.

WebControls.aspx (ASPX):

Code

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebControls.aspx.cs"
    Inherits="WebFormsControlls.WebControls" %>

Select Date from the Calendar: <asp:Calendar ID="Calendar1" runat="server" OnSelectionChanged="Calendar1_SelectionChanged" /><br />
You Selected: <asp:Label ID="ShowDate" runat="server" />

WebControls.aspx.cs (Code-Behind):

Code

using System;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace WebFormsControlls
{
    public partial class WebControls : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Calendar1_SelectionChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            ShowDate.Text = "You Selected: " + Calendar1.SelectedDate.ToString("D");
        }
    }
}

This code shows a calendar, and when a date is selected, it updates a label to display the selected date.