Enterprise-ng: DatePicker: getValue returns string instead of Date object

[swuendri]

Describe the bug
Calling getValue from SohoDatePickerComponent returns the selected date as string. The method is defined as public getValue(): Date and should return a value with type Date.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Change the source code in enterprise-ng/src/app/datepicker/datepicker.demo.ts and add a new console output in onChange method: console.log('DatePickerDemoComponent.onChange(date of datepicker): ' + this.datepicker?.getValue());.
2. Start the application with npm start.
3. Open the accordion with letter D on the left side and choose Date Picker.
4. Select a different value in Standard Date field to trigger a change event.
5. Open developer console window in your browser.
6. See the log message like DatePickerDemoComponent.onChange(date of datepicker): 12/13/2016.

Expected behavior
In general I expect a Date object after calling getValue instead of string. The steps "To Reproduce" should end with the following log message: DatePickerDemoComponent.onChange(date of datepicker): [object Object]. And the type of object should be Date to call according methods on it.

Version

• ids-enterprise-ng: 9.1.5

Screenshots
no screenshots

Platform

• Device (if applicable): Mac mini
• OS Version: macOS Big Sur 11.2.3
• Browser Name: safari
• Browser Version: Version 14.0.3 (16610.4.3.1.7)

Additional context
no additional context

[tmcconechy]

The only thing we could change is the type. It should actually be saying its a string here https://github.com/infor-design/enterprise-ng/blob/master/projects/ids-enterprise-ng/src/lib/datepicker/soho-datepicker.component.ts#L389

The component underneath returns a string here because you may want the formatted value and thats whats shown in the field.

You can use the Locale functions to convert it to a date. For example

Soho.Locale.parseDate('2020-02-26 下午12:00', { pattern: 'yyyy/M/d ah:mm' })
// or with no params for the current locales format
Soho.Locale.parseDate(component.getValue());

[swuendri]

Okay I understand. Changing the type of getValue would be very helpful for the right expectation of the returned value. Maybe it's possible to add another method which returns the value from https://github.com/infor-design/enterprise/blob/c5d013bd6c7386ff63046fc51478dd2c076cdbf4/src/components/datepicker/datepicker.js#L1954? So everybody is able to use the standard without doing own parsing stuff.

[tmcconechy]

Ok, yeah i think maybe a getDateValue() could be an idea. So

• one new method (or option to value) in the enterprise-component
• add the new method type in NG
• change the current type to string

[swuendri]

To avoid a breaking change the option to value seems better for me. The current method can be changed into

   public getValue(asDate: boolean = false): string | Date {
      if (asDate) {
         return  this.jQueryElement.getCurrentDate();
      }
      return this.internalValue;
   }

or something like that. So we have the same behavior if we call getValue() like today and the additional Date value with getValue(true).

[tmcconechy]

OK, As this is open source you could try a pull request. This seems good to me. You could also even do it all in the NG project as in...

public getValue(asDate: boolean = false): string | Date { if (asDate) { return Soho.Locale.parseDate(this.internalValue); } return this.internalValue; }

Since we are reworking the datepicker API and i'd rather do this sort of change to enterprise then.

[swuendri]

I will try a pull request with pleasure @tmcconechy! Your notice about reworking the datepicker API is new to me so I try to solve the parsing in NG project. My idea before was to use existing functionality in enterprise but I skip this.

[tmcconechy]

yeah please do! the new stuff will be a while. so if you want a fix soon that would be the best way