JQuery UI datepicker plugin - how to change alt field?

Question

I have a problem when the user changes the date directly in the input field, and the alt field is not updated. The only time the alt field is updated is when the calendar is used to select a specific day.

Code example:

$this
.find('#'+strInputID)
.datepicker({altField: '#alt_'+strInputID, altFormat: 'dd/mm/yy', minDate: new Date()})
.datepicker("setDate" , dDfltDate);

Please note that I use altFormat because the input field changes depending on the localization, so I cannot copy the value directly when the input was changed.

Does jQuery Datepicker have anything to enable?

The event list here does not have what I want: http://jqueryui.com/demos/datepicker/

Does anyone have answers to the question of how to fix this?

EDIT: This example http://jqueryui.com/demos/datepicker/#alt-field work, I found another example that did not. Since we are using v1.7.3 and not 1.8.8, I can assume that this could be a problem.

I cannot update, so I will continue testing and see if this is true. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know. Thanks

Answer 1

I managed to get it working by attaching the 1.8.8 datepicker code to the keyup event in the input field, but this is not an elegant approach :( Any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks

var inputField = $this.find('#'+strInputID);
inputField.datepicker({altField: '#alt_'+strInputID, altFormat: 'dd/mm/yy', minDate: new Date()}).datepicker("setDate", dDfltDate);
inputField.keyup(function (event) {
    var inst = $.datepicker._getInst(event.target);
    if (inst.input.val() != inst.lastVal) {
        try {
            var date = $.datepicker.parseDate($.datepicker._get(inst, 'dateFormat'),
                (inst.input ? inst.input.val() : null),
                $.datepicker._getFormatConfig(inst));
            if (date) { // only if valid
                $.datepicker._setDateFromField(inst);
                $.datepicker._updateAlternate(inst);
                $.datepicker._updateDatepicker(inst);
            }
        }
        catch (event) {
            $.datepicker.log(event);
        }
    }
});