ARIA Datepickers

Expected behaviors

An external triggering element should activate the datepicker for touch support, focus should move into the datepicker when selecting a date using the keyboard, the arrow keys should move between calendar cells and the calendar should scroll automatically between months, PageUp/PageDown should switch between months, Alt+PageUp/PageDown should switch between years, Enter should activate the selected date, and pressing Escape or Tab should close the calendar and return focus to the triggering element.

The 4X ARIA Datepicker module automatically configures all required ARIA attributes and focus handling, in strict accordance with the ARIA specification.

Note: A datepicker is a composite widget, meaning that it is comprised of different ARIA roles and supporting attributes.

The following attributes are handled automatically by the Datepicker module:

  • role=dialog
  • role=application
  • role=button
  • role=presentation
  • aria-hidden
  • aria-label
  • aria-disabled
  • aria-current
  • tabindex

HTML syntax


<label for="dateInputId"> Departure date: </label>
<input placeholder="MM/DD/YYYY" id="dateInputId" type="text">
<button title="Datepicker" id="dateCalendarIconId"><!-- Calendar Icon Here --></button>

JavaScript syntax

var myCalendarDC = $A.setDatepicker({
// Configuration key / value map
});

Parameters

  1. A configuration map to customize behaviors and options

Configuration

{

// Unique ID for the datepicker instance
// After instantiation, can be referenced using: var DC = $A("UniqueCalendarId");
id: "UniqueCalendarId",

// Clickable icon triggering element
toggle: "#dateCalendarIconId",

// Native input element where the saved date value will be set.
input: "#dateInputId",

// Optionally specify a DOM node to return focus to after the datepicker calendar is removed.
// By default, this will set focus back to the associated input field where the date is saved, but it can be overridden if needed using the following property.
returnFocusTo: $A.get('elementId'),

// Optionally convert the static year field into a year selector dropdown.
yearSelect: true,
yearSelectMin: 1900,
yearSelectMax: new Date().getFullYear() + 5,
// Optionally convert the static month field into a month selector dropdown.
monthSelect: true,
// Force the month/year select dropdown to render instead of a button.
forceSelect: false,

// Set initial inline styling properties for the dynamically rendered calendar.
style: {
position: 'absolute',
zIndex: 1,
display: "none" // Set the initial state to hidden in prep for animation if applicable.
},

// Optionally specify a render and remove animation effect for the calendar.
// Requires the "Animate" module import to function, which is powered by Velocity.js.
// To ignore animation effects, delete the animate object declaration entirely from the setup script.
// View implementations within "Templates/Datepickers" for practical animation usage examples.

animate: {

onRender: function(dc, wrapper, next) {

// Specify the render animation effect, including the callback function statement to execute when the animation effect completes.
Velocity(wrapper, "transition.TYPE", {
// Velocity options here, plus the callback declaration after the animation completes.
complete: function() {
next(); // REQUIRED: next() must be executed so control is passed back to 4X for rendering.
}
});

},

onRemove: function(dc, wrapper, next) {

// Specify the removal animation effect, including the callback function statement to execute when the animation effect completes.
Velocity(wrapper, "transition.TYPE", {
// Velocity options here, plus the callback declaration after the animation completes.
complete: function() {
next(); // REQUIRED: next() must be executed so control is passed back to 4X for removal.
}
});

}

},

onActivate: function(event, dc) {
// Optionally override the default functionality when a date is activated.
// format selected calendar value and set into input field
dc.target.value = dc.formatDate(dc);
dc.remove();
if (!dc.triggerClicked) dc.target.focus();
else dc.trigger.focus();
dc.triggerClicked = false;
},

// If not included, all of the below values are set by default

role: 'Calendar',

// Set the initial state of the datepicker when activated.
// If true, the datepicker will not open and the associated input will be disabled.
disabled: false,

// Short help text message that is automatically announced to screen reader users when the calendar first opens.
helpTextShort: 'Press F1 for help.',

// Set help text to be displayed when F1 is pressed.
helpText: 'Press the arrow keys to navigate by day, PageUp and PageDown to navigate by month, Alt+PageUp and Alt+PageDown to navigate by year, or Escape to cancel.',

// Set description text to be announced when the datepicker is set to open onFocus().
openOnFocusHelpText: "Press Down arrow to browse the calendar, or Escape to close.",

// Set tooltip text
tooltipTxt: 'Press Escape to cancel',
disabledTxt: 'Disabled',
markedTxt: 'Selected',
commentedTxt: 'Has Comment',
prevTxt: 'Previous',
nextTxt: 'Next',
monthTxt: 'Month',
yearTxt: 'Year',

// Set month names
months: [
'January',
'February',
'March',
'April',
'May',
'June',
'July',
'August',
'September',
'October',
'November',
'December'
],

// Set short and long weekday names
days: [
{
s: 'S',
l: 'Sunday'
},
{
s: 'M',
l: 'Monday'
},
{
s: 'T',
l: 'Tuesday'
},
{
s: 'W',
l: 'Wednesday'
},
{
s: 'T',
l: 'Thursday'
},
{
s: 'F',
l: 'Friday'
},
{
s: 'S',
l: 'Saturday'
}
],

// Switch the behaviour when the PageUp or PageDown keys are pressed to a "natural" behaviour
// (PageUp goes to previous month, PageDown goes to next month)
pageUpDownNatural: true,

// Append a "dayToday" CSS class to the current day cell element - this allows styling to be targeted to this specific element
highlightToday: true,

// Fill in the day cells outside of the current month so that the calendar grid is always filled with day cells
drawFullCalendar: true,

// Run custom functions at the end of the code within the following component functions.
// Receives a single parameter "dc", which provides access to the Datepicker object.
beforeRender: function (dc) {
console.log('beforeRender');
console.log(dc);
},
afterRender: function (dc) {
console.log('afterRender');
console.log(dc);
},
afterRemove: function (dc) {
console.log('afterRemove');
console.log(dc);
},

// Override the character used on the month / year change buttons
leftButtonYearText: '<',
rightButtonYearText: '>',
leftButtonMonthText: '<',
rightButtonMonthText: '>',

// Specify if the calendar should open when the input field receives focus.
// If true, the Down arrow or Tab key must be pressed to move focus from the input field into the calendar for manual traversal, and Escape will collapse the calendar.
openOnFocus: false,
openOnFocusHelpText: 'Press Down arrow to browse the calendar, or Escape to close.',

// Display a Close button
showEscBtn: true,
escBtnName: 'Close',
escBtnIcon: '×',

// Set specific start / end boundaries of a date range. Can be Date objects (absolute boundaries), or positive/negative integers (relative boundaries).
// If undefined, no date range will be enforced.
minDate: undefined,
maxDate: undefined,

// Using a token system, set a specific date string format to be used when setting the selected value into the calendar input box
// 'YYYY': 4 digit year, 2019
// 'MMMM': Full name of month, January, etc.
// 'dddd': Full name of weekday, Monday, etc.
// 'MM': 2 digit month, 01, etc.
// 'DD': 2 digit day, 01, etc.
// 'Do': getDateOrdinalSuffix, 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
// 'M': 1 or 2 digit month, 1 through 12
// 'D': 1 or 2 digit day, 1 through 31.

inputDateFormat: 'MM/DD/YYYY',

// Using a token system, set a specific date string format to be read out to screen reader users
// The default format covers all necessary information to ensure accessibility, so do not change unless absolutely necessary.
audibleDateFormat: 'D, dddd MMMM YYYY',

// Allow a date that isn't today to be set as the initial date. If unset, this value is initialised to today's date
initialDate: new Date(),

// Disable weekdays from selection
disableWeekdays: false,

// Disable weekends from selection
disableWeekends: false,

// Set positive or negative offset for differing column arrangements, or 0 for none
wdOffset: 0,

// Set class for the calendar wrapper
className: 'calendar',

// Choose a different insertion point in the DOM; must be a DOM node; defaults to the triggering element if not specified.
targetNode: null,

// Reset date to the current calendar date every time the datepicker opens
resetCurrent: false,

// Configure the Comments tooltip pane
comments: {
role: 'Comment',
className: 'commentTooltip'
},

// Configure the editor form pane
editor: {
// Choose to show the form, defaults to false
show: false,
// Set the section name, and the Edit button text
role: 'Edit',
className: 'commentAdd',
// Set the Save button text
action1: 'Save'
},

// Condense the year display by removing the year nav buttons.
condenseYear: false,

// Manually configure the calendar using the configure method or a customization script
configure: function(dc){
// And optionally prevent this script from running again
// dc.stopConfigure = true;
}

}

Programmatic control

// Get a reference to the calendar DC instance using its id.
var dc = $A('UniqueCalendarId');

// Manually open the calendar.
dc.render();

// Or close it
dc.remove();

// There are some additional methods which allow altering the Date Picker state after invocation:

dc.setDayMarked(dc, dateObj, isMarked);

dc.clearAllMarked(dc);

dc.setDayDisabled(dc, dateObj, isDisabled);

dc.setMonthDisabled(dc, dateObj, isDisabled);

dc.setDayOfWeekDisabled(dc, dateObj, daysOfWeekArray, isDisabled);

dc.setWeekdaysDisabled(dc, dateObj, isDisabled);

dc.setWeekendsDisabled(dc, dateObj, isDisabled);

dc.clearAllDisabled(dc);

dc.setMonthMessage(dc, dateObj, message);

dc.clearAllMessage(dc);

dc.setDate(dc, dateObj);

dc.presetDate(dc, initialDateObj, minDateObj, maxDateObj);

Implementation notes

For more granular access to date string values that exist within each calendar object instance, you can access the internal variables like so:

var weekday = dc.range.wDays[dc.range.current.wDay].lng; // = 'Friday'

var monthName = dc.range[dc.range.current.month].name; // = 'November'

var monthDay = (dc.range.current.month+1); // = numerical month string

var day = dc.range.current.mDay; // = '30'

var year = dc.range.current.year; // = '2012'