Formatting MM/DD/YYYY dates in textbox in VBA

Question

I'm looking for a way to automatically format the date in a VBA text box to a MM/DD/YYYY format, and I want it to format as the user is typing it in. For instance, once the user types in the second number, the program will automatically type in a "/". Now, I got this working (as well as the second dash) with the following code:

Private Sub txtBoxBDayHim_Change()
    If txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 2 or txtBoxBDayHim.TextLength = 5 then
    txtBoxBDayHim.Text = txtBoxBDayHim.Text + "/"
End Sub

Now, this works great when typing. However, when trying to delete, it still enters in the dashes, so its impossible for the user to delete past one of the dashes (deleting a dash results in a length of 2 or 5, and the sub is then run again, adding in another dash). Any suggestions on a better way to do this?

Answer 1

For a quick solution, I usually do like this.

This approach will allow the user to enter date in any format they like in the textbox, and finally format in mm/dd/yyyy format when he is done editing. So it is quite flexible:

Private Sub TextBox1_Exit(ByVal Cancel As MSForms.ReturnBoolean)
    If TextBox1.Text <> "" Then
        If IsDate(TextBox1.Text) Then
            TextBox1.Text = Format(TextBox1.Text, "mm/dd/yyyy")
        Else
            MsgBox "Please enter a valid date!"
            Cancel = True
        End If
    End If
End Sub

However, I think what Sid developed is a much better approach - a full fledged date picker control.

Answer 2

This is the same concept as Siddharth Rout's answer. But I wanted a date picker which could be fully customized so that the look and feel could be tailored to whatever project it's being used in.

You can click this link to download the custom date picker I came up with. Below are some screenshots of the form in action.

To use the date picker, simply import the CalendarForm.frm file into your VBA project. Each of the calendars above can be obtained with one single function call. The result just depends on the arguments you use (all of which are optional), so you can customize it as much or as little as you want.

For example, the most basic calendar on the left can be obtained by the following line of code:

MyDateVariable = CalendarForm.GetDate

That's all there is to it. From there, you just include whichever arguments you want to get the calendar you want. The function call below will generate the green calendar on the right:

MyDateVariable = CalendarForm.GetDate( _
    SelectedDate:=Date, _
    DateFontSize:=11, _
    TodayButton:=True, _
    BackgroundColor:=RGB(242, 248, 238), _
    HeaderColor:=RGB(84, 130, 53), _
    HeaderFontColor:=RGB(255, 255, 255), _
    SubHeaderColor:=RGB(226, 239, 218), _
    SubHeaderFontColor:=RGB(55, 86, 35), _
    DateColor:=RGB(242, 248, 238), _
    DateFontColor:=RGB(55, 86, 35), _
    SaturdayFontColor:=RGB(55, 86, 35), _
    SundayFontColor:=RGB(55, 86, 35), _
    TrailingMonthFontColor:=RGB(106, 163, 67), _
    DateHoverColor:=RGB(198, 224, 180), _
    DateSelectedColor:=RGB(169, 208, 142), _
    TodayFontColor:=RGB(255, 0, 0), _
    DateSpecialEffect:=fmSpecialEffectRaised)

Here is a small taste of some of the features it includes. All options are fully documented in the userform module itself:

• Ease of use. The userform is completely self-contained, and can be imported into any VBA project and used without much, if any additional coding.
• Simple, attractive design.
• Fully customizable functionality, size, and color scheme
• Limit user selection to a specific date range
• Choose any day for the first day of the week
• Include week numbers, and support for ISO standard
• Clicking the month or year label in the header reveals selectable comboboxes
• Dates change color when you mouse over them

Answer 3

I too, one way or another stumbled on the same dilemma, why the heck Excel VBA doesn't have a Date Picker. Thanks to Sid, who made an awesome job to create something for all of us.

Nonetheless, I came to a point where I need to create my own. And I am posting it here since a lot of people I'm sure lands on this post and benefit from it.

What I did was very simple as what Sid does except that I do not use a temporary worksheet. I thought the calculations are very simple and straight forward so there's no need to dump it somewhere else. Here's the final output of the calendar:

How to set it up:

• Create 42 Label controls and name it sequentially and arranged left to right, top to bottom (This labels contains greyed 25 up to greyed 5 above). Change the name of the Label controls to Label_01,Label_02 and so on. Set all 42 labels Tag property to dts.
• Create 7 more Label controls for the header (this will contain Su,Mo,Tu...)
• Create 2 more Label control, one for the horizontal line (height set to 1) and one for the Month and Year display. Name the Label used for displaying month and year Label_MthYr
• Insert 2 Image controls, one to contain the left icon to scroll previous months and one to scroll next month (I prefer simple left and right arrow head icon). Name it Image_Left and Image_Right

The layout should be more or less like this (I leave the creativity to anyone who'll use this).

Declaration:
We need one variable declared at the very top to hold the current month selected.

Option Explicit
Private curMonth As Date

Private Procedure and Functions:

Private Function FirstCalSun(ref_date As Date) As Date
    '/* returns the first Calendar sunday */
    FirstCalSun = DateSerial(Year(ref_date), _
                  Month(ref_date), 1) - (Weekday(ref_date) - 1)
End Function

---

Private Sub Build_Calendar(first_sunday As Date)
    '/* This builds the calendar and adds formatting to it */
    Dim lDate As MSForms.Label
    Dim i As Integer, a_date As Date

    For i = 1 To 42
        a_date = first_sunday + (i - 1)
        Set lDate = Me.Controls("Label_" & Format(i, "00"))
        lDate.Caption = Day(a_date)
        If Month(a_date) <> Month(curMonth) Then
            lDate.ForeColor = &H80000011
        Else
            If Weekday(a_date) = 1 Then
                lDate.ForeColor = &HC0&
            Else
                lDate.ForeColor = &H80000012
            End If
        End If
    Next
End Sub

---

Private Sub select_label(msForm_C As MSForms.Control)
    '/* Capture the selected date */
    Dim i As Integer, sel_date As Date
    i = Split(msForm_C.Name, "_")(1) - 1
    sel_date = FirstCalSun(curMonth) + i

    '/* Transfer the date where you want it to go */
    MsgBox sel_date

End Sub

Image Events:

Private Sub Image_Left_Click()

    If Month(curMonth) = 1 Then
        curMonth = DateSerial(Year(curMonth) - 1, 12, 1)
    Else
        curMonth = DateSerial(Year(curMonth), Month(curMonth) - 1, 1)
    End If

    With Me
        .Label_MthYr.Caption = Format(curMonth, "mmmm, yyyy")
        Build_Calendar FirstCalSun(curMonth)
    End With

End Sub

---

Private Sub Image_Right_Click()

    If Month(curMonth) = 12 Then
        curMonth = DateSerial(Year(curMonth) + 1, 1, 1)
    Else
        curMonth = DateSerial(Year(curMonth), Month(curMonth) + 1, 1)
    End If

    With Me
        .Label_MthYr.Caption = Format(curMonth, "mmmm, yyyy")
        Build_Calendar FirstCalSun(curMonth)
    End With

End Sub

---

I added this to make it look like the user is clicking the label and should be done on the Image_Right control too.

Private Sub Image_Left_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                                 ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Me.Image_Left.BorderStyle = fmBorderStyleSingle
End Sub

Private Sub Image_Left_MouseUp(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                               ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Me.Image_Left.BorderStyle = fmBorderStyleNone
End Sub

Label Events:
All of this should be done for all 42 labels (Label_01 to Lable_42)
Tip: Build the first 10 and just use find and replace for the remaining.

Private Sub Label_01_Click()
    select_label Me.Label_01
End Sub

---

This is for hovering over dates and clicking effect.

Private Sub Label_01_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                               ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Me.Label_01.BorderStyle = fmBorderStyleSingle
End Sub

Private Sub Label_01_MouseMove(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                               ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Me.Label_01.BackColor = &H8000000B
End Sub

Private Sub Label_01_MouseUp(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                             ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
    Me.Label_01.BorderStyle = fmBorderStyleNone
End Sub

UserForm Events:

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
    '/* This is to initialize everything */
    With Me
        curMonth = DateSerial(Year(Date), Month(Date), 1)
        .Label_MthYr = Format(curMonth, "mmmm, yyyy")
        Build_Calendar FirstCalSun(curMonth)
    End With

End Sub

---

Again, just for the hovering over dates effect.

Private Sub UserForm_MouseMove(ByVal Button As Integer, ByVal Shift As Integer, _
                               ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)

    With Me
        Dim ctl As MSForms.Control, lb As MSForms.Label

        For Each ctl In .Controls
            If ctl.Tag = "dts" Then
                Set lb = ctl: lb.BackColor = &H80000005
            End If
        Next
    End With

End Sub

And that's it. This is raw and you can add your own twist to it.
I've been using this for awhile and I have no issues (performance and functionality wise).
No Error Handling yet but can be easily managed I guess.
Actually, without the effects, the code is too short.
You can manage where your dates go in the select_label procedure. HTH.