Chapter 14 Datepicker

ralphbethke · August 4th, 2009, 02:21 PM

Is anyone else using the latest version(1.3.2) of jQuery?

I can't seem to get Example 14-1 to work with it. It works with the source code in the book but the CSS is not correct with the latest framework.

I'm also using the latest UI(1.7.2) but this doesn't seem to help.

richard.york · August 6th, 2009, 11:10 AM

I'm sorry to hear that the book's examples aren't playing well with the latest jQuery. I'll try to investigate the updated jQuery soon and make some posts here about what's changed with regards to the book's examples.

In the meantime, the best thing you can do is use Firefox or Safari or IE to inspect the DOM source of the document after the datepicker is applied, which is how I gathered the CSS and HTML data that appears in the book. Looking at the DOM source will allow you to see the updated DOM tree so that you can write a style sheet for the datepicker.

In Safari you can right click on an element and click "Inspect Element" which will show you the DOM source of that element. In Firefox you can do Command + A or Control + A, then right click and select "View Selection Source". I'm not sure how it's done in IE, but I know there are pretty good developer tools for this sort of thing in IE8, which are probably similar to the ones in Safari and Firefox.

ralphbethke · August 6th, 2009, 03:16 PM

I was able to get all exercises to work with the latest jquery-1.3.2.min.js. but not with the latest ui from the jQuery site.

When I used jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js, it wouldn't work in place of jQueryUI.js. I chose all the options from the custom configuration download menu for jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js but I can't it to work on the book UI examples. It looks like the custom version is just that, but I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work with your code.

Thanks

ralphbethke · August 6th, 2009, 03:33 PM

The DOM inspection tool in firefox is pretty cool. I've been playing around with it and it provides a wealth of information. I'll be using it alot. Thanks for the advice. In fact, your book has been a great source of information. It was well written and provided lots of useful tips.

Thanks

richard.york · August 14th, 2009, 01:59 PM

I've finally had an opportunity to play with the latest jQuery. So far I can confirm that the updated Datepicker will not work with the book's examples. Looking at its markup, I can see that they have significantly changed how the HTML is structured and how they name class and id attributes, so what you're probably seeing is that the book's examples have little or none of the intended styles applied to the datepicker widget when using the new datpicker's code.

Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about this, I based the whole book on what I had available at the time, jQuery 1.2.3, or something like that, and I can't foresee how jQuery's developers will change things up in new releases.

The best thing I can recommend is to use the version that came with the book to work the book's examples, then once you've sufficiently grasped what the book provides, then try experimenting with the new version. The HTML structure is easy enough to find using the techniques I described in my previous post.

I'm glad you're finding the book useful otherwise and thanks for your kind words.

Take care!

jbird4k · January 7th, 2010, 03:38 PM

if you are using firefox, and have the web developer tool bar installed. You can view the date picker demo , click on the css button, view css and it will display all associated style sheets. copy and paste each into its own css file and you will be able to style away. you will have to do some configuration for images and such but it works. I'm running FF, IE 7, and Opera 10 , jquery 1.3.2 and ui 1.7.2 No problems

Rich, great job on the book! it was just what i needed.