React Date Picker Tutorial: Building a Customizable Date Selection Component

Learn to implement a date picker component in your React applications. This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide, covering installation, component usage, customization, and handling selected date values, enhancing user interaction and form functionality.

React Date Picker Tutorial

Introduction to React Date Picker

Ever noticed those calendar icons on websites when you need to enter a date? That's a date picker! This tutorial shows you how to build one using React, step-by-step, from beginner to more advanced techniques.

What is a React Date Picker?

A React Date Picker is a component that displays a calendar for users to select dates. There are many options available, but we'll focus on one specific, popular choice in this tutorial.

Installation

Before we start, you'll need Node.js. Then, install the react-datepicker package using either npm or Yarn:

# npm
npm install react-datepicker --save

# Yarn
yarn add react-datepicker

You might also need to install React and PropTypes (though often already included in your project) and consider adding CSS for styling.

Basic React Date Picker Example

Let's create a simple React app to showcase a date picker. We'll assume you've already created a React project (e.g., using create-react-app).

import React, { useState } from "react";
import DatePicker from "react-datepicker";
import "react-datepicker/dist/react-datepicker.css";

A simplified example of using the DatePicker component:

const Example = () => {
  const [startDate, setStartDate] = useState(new Date());
  return (
    <DatePicker selected={startDate} onChange={(date) => setStartDate(date)} />
  );
};

Building a More Complete App

A more advanced example with form submission and additional features.

import React, { Component } from 'react';
import DatePicker from 'react-datepicker';
import "react-datepicker/dist/react-datepicker.css";
import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';

class App extends Component {
  // ... (rest of the code as provided in the original text)
}

export default App;

Localizing the Date Picker

To use different languages, you'll need date-fns internationalization.

import { registerLocale, setDefaultLocale } from  "react-datepicker";
import es from 'date-fns/locale/es';

registerLocale('es', es);
setDefaultLocale('es');

Setting Date Ranges

Use minDate and maxDate to restrict the selectable date range.

import addDays from 'date-fns/addDays';

// ... inside render()
<DatePicker minDate={new Date()} maxDate={addDays(new Date(), 7)} />

Complete Code Example (with Date Range)

// ... (full code as provided in the original text)

Conclusion

This tutorial covered building a basic and then a more advanced React Date Picker. Remember that further customization is possible through styling and additional features.

Next Topic: React Helmet