Hello folks,
I know that the title is very misleading because I don't actually
have
something to show to you at the moment (no, not one line of
code! :)).
Nevertheless, here goes: I've resently had the need for a more
advanced calendar solution, have used Aeron Glemann's "Calendar" in
the past and also tried the new kid on the block, the Monkeyphysics's
"DatePicker".
What I liked about the Calendar was its multi-calendar ability. But
over the last few days, a few bugs made me investigate and it's not
pretty: it's still mostly a MooTools 1.11 component and the code is
not as clean and extensible as I'd like. Just one bug: the multi-
calendar ability governs more than one calendar and keeps them in
chronological order but when you're in the same month and select a
date in the first calendar, switch to the second calendar, you can
still select a date before the first calendar's date. The component
then back-dates the first calendar and that I don't like. But
sometimes (don't know when) it correctly disables the dates before
the
first calendar's displayed date. Weird stuff.
So, I thought I'd try the DatePicker. Well, no multi-calendar ability
which is kind of a bummer.
Here's the workflow I'd like to implement and which I think should be
used for all date-range pickers in the whole universe (:P):
1. select a date in the first calendar
2. on opening the second calendar it opens in the same year and month
as the first calendar's date (usability). The date of the first
calendar is marked and I cannot select dates before that date.
3. After selecting a date in the second calendar I want to change the
first date and I select a date that's after the second calendar's
date. The second calendar responds by keeping the date difference
that
existed before I changed the first calendar's date.
Example 1:
first calendar: 2009/10/02
second calendar: 2009/10/10
then:
first calendar: 2009/10/04
second calendar: 2009/10/12
AND:
first calendar: 2009/10/02
second calendar: 2009/10/10
then:
first calendar: 2009/10/12
second calendar: 2009/10/20
BUT:
first calendar: 2009/10/02
second calendar: 2009/10/10
then:
first calendar: 2009/10/01
second calendar: 2009/10/10
So the second calendar's date only changes when the first calendar's
date is changed to a later date.
I hope you're still following me after all these "first calendar,
second calendar" phrases.
Now, there's more: I want it to be a MooTools 1.2 component. There
should be a base calendar, I'll call it MooCalendar for now. Then
there should be several inheriting calendars: MooCalendar.Inline (the
calendar is not only shown when clicking inside a text field but is
visible all the time), MooCalendar.Multi (yeah, guess what, multiple
linked calendars, updating chronologically) and
MooCalendar.MultiInline (MooCalendar.Multi, but shown all the time).
It should also implement real events and not, like in the
DatePicker's
case, call this.options.onSelect() which is, to my mind, so un-Moo-
ish
as it can get (is that even a word? :)). *rant over*
Now, a few options/abilities:
- do not close on selecting a date but instead mark the date range
and
all the dates in between (think Google Analytics)
- updateable by updating the text field the calendar is bound to
(having nothing weird to do when one wants to select another date
externally)
- works with simple text inputs and select boxes (either 3 select
boxes for the year, month, and day or combined somehow like 1 year
select and 1 select for month and day combined)
- maybe even allowing multiple selections (even multiple date-range
selections)
- small filesize (when I don't need multiple calendars, why do I have
to carry that weight around on every page?)
- EASILY localizable! No calendar I know has that and I don't mean
that I can change the month names when I instantiate the damn
thing, I
mean really easy localizable, so I can change the language by, for
instance, giving the input element a new class "calLang:'de'" to ease
the integration into CMS and not having to include separate
JavaScript
files. That is not easy as it is today. *phew*
Using MooTools More should make input/output dates with customizable
formats considerably easier (MooTools More Date and Date.Extra come
to
mind). And localization. :) Thanks, MooTools guys!
I hope I did not tread on anyone's toes by posting this. Okay, now I
only have to implement all of the above.
What I wanted to ask the community here, before I really start: Do
you
know of any *essential* features that the base calendar should
implement? Or, for that matter, do you know another inheriting class
that you'd like to see and that has other unique features?
Short posts of lists or links to sites that implement such a
calendar/
specific feature should suffice. :)
Thanks and wish me luck, I think this won't be an easy thing to do.
I'l start as soon as I have a broader picture of what I missed here
that could be necessary in planning and developing this. So,
shoot! :)
Daniel
PS: One more thing. Time and year picking should be added by using
Class.refactor and not implemented as inheriting classes because I
want the base calendar to be as lean as possible. Or are there other
suggestions regarding this?
PPS: License? Yes, MIT! :)
PPPS: Could this be added to MooTools More? :D Just kidding but
always
think big, I say!
