Date constructor returns NaN in IE, but works in F

Question

I'm trying to build a little calendar in JavaScript. I have my dates working great in Firefox and Chrome, but in IE the date functions are returning NaN.

Here is the function :

function buildWeek(dateText){
    var headerDates='';
    var newDate = new Date(dateText);

    for(var d=0;d<7;d++){
        headerDates += '<th>' + newDate + '</th>';
        newDate.setDate(newDate.getDate()+1);
    }                       

    jQuery('div#headerDates').html('<table><tr>'+headerDates+'</tr></table>');
}

dateText is the Monday of the current week which is actually set in php in the format of 'm, d, Y', e.g. "02, 01, 2010".

Answer 1

The Date constructor in JavaScript needs a string in one of the date formats supported by the parse() method.

Apparently, the format you are specifying isn't supported in IE, so you'll need to either change the PHP code, or parse the string manually in JavaScript.

Answer 2

Here's a code snippet that fixes that behavior of IE (v['date'] is a comma separated date-string, e.g. "2010,4,1"):

if($.browser.msie){
    $.lst = v['date'].split(',');
    $.tmp = new Date(parseInt($.lst[0]),parseInt($.lst[1])-1,parseInt($.lst[2]));
} else {
    $.tmp = new Date(v['date']);
}

The previous approach didn't consider that JS Date month is ZERO based...

Sorry for not explaining too much, I'm at work and just thought this might help.

Answer 3

The Date constructor accepts any value. If the primitive [[value]] of the argument is number, then the Date that is created has that value. If primitive [[value]] is String, then the specification only guarantees that the Date constructor and the parse method are capable of parsing the result of Date.prototype.toString and Date.prototype.toUTCString()

A reliable way to set a Date is to construct one and use the setFullYear and setTime methods.

An example of that appears here: http://jibbering.com/faq/#parseDate

ECMA-262 r3 does not define any date formats. Passing string values to the Date constructor or Date.parse has implementation-dependent outcome. It is best avoided.

---

Edit: The entry from comp.lang.javascript FAQ is: An Extended ISO 8601 local date format YYYY-MM-DD can be parsed to a Date with the following:-

/**Parses string formatted as YYYY-MM-DD to a Date object.
 * If the supplied string does not match the format, an 
 * invalid Date (value NaN) is returned.
 * @param {string} dateStringInRange format YYYY-MM-DD, with year in
 * range of 0000-9999, inclusive.
 * @return {Date} Date object representing the string.
 */

  function parseISO8601(dateStringInRange) {
    var isoExp = /^\s*(\d{4})-(\d\d)-(\d\d)\s*$/,
        date = new Date(NaN), month,
        parts = isoExp.exec(dateStringInRange);

    if(parts) {
      month = +parts[2];
      date.setFullYear(parts[1], month - 1, parts[3]);
      if(month != date.getMonth() + 1) {
        date.setTime(NaN);
      }
    }
    return date;
  }

Answer 4

I always store my date in UTC time.

This is my own function made from the different functions I found in this page.

It takes a STRING as a mysql DATETIME format (example : 2013-06-15 15:21:41). The checking with the regex is optional. You can delete this part to improve performance.

This function return a timestamp.

The DATETIME is considered as a UTC date. Be carefull : If you expect a local datetime, this function is not for you.

    function datetimeToTimestamp(datetime)
    {
        var regDatetime = /^[0-9]{4}-(?:[0]?[0-9]{1}|10|11|12)-(?:[012]?[0-9]{1}|30|31)(?: (?:[01]?[0-9]{1}|20|21|22|23)(?::[0-5]?[0-9]{1})?(?::[0-5]?[0-9]{1})?)?$/;
        if(regDatetime.test(datetime) === false)
            throw("Wrong format for the param. `Y-m-d H:i:s` expected.");

        var a=datetime.split(" ");
        var d=a[0].split("-");
        var t=a[1].split(":");

        var date = new Date();
        date.setUTCFullYear(d[0],(d[1]-1),d[2]);
        date.setUTCHours(t[0],t[1],t[2], 0);

        return date.getTime();
    }

Answer 5

Here's my approach:

var parseDate = function(dateArg) {
    var dateValues = dateArg.split('-');
    var date = new Date(dateValues[0],dateValues[1],dateValues[2]);
    return date.format("m/d/Y");
}

replace ('-') with the delimeter you're using.

Answer 6

Send the date text and format in which you are sending the datetext in the below method. It will parse and return as date and this is independent of browser.

function cal_parse_internal(val, format) {
val = val + "";
format = format + "";
var i_val = 0;
var i_format = 0;
var x, y;
var now = new Date(dbSysCurrentDate);
var year = now.getYear();
var month = now.getMonth() + 1;
var date = now.getDate();

while (i_format < format.length) {
    // Get next token from format string
    var c = format.charAt(i_format);
    var token = "";
    while ((format.charAt(i_format) == c) && (i_format < format.length)) {
        token += format.charAt(i_format++);
    }
    // Extract contents of value based on format token
    if (token == "yyyy" || token == "yy" || token == "y") {
        if (token == "yyyy") { x = 4; y = 4; }
        if (token == "yy")   { x = 2; y = 2; }
        if (token == "y")    { x = 2; y = 4; }
        year = _getInt(val, i_val, x, y);
        if (year == null) { return 0; }
        i_val += year.length;
        if (year.length == 2) {
            if (year > 70) {
                year = 1900 + (year - 0);
            } else {
                year = 2000 + (year - 0);
            }
        }
    } else if (token == "MMMM") {
        month = 0;
        for (var i = 0; i < MONTHS_LONG.length; i++) {
            var month_name = MONTHS_LONG[i];
            if (val.substring(i_val, i_val + month_name.length) == month_name) {
                month = i + 1;
                i_val += month_name.length;
                break;
            }
        }
        if (month < 1 || month > 12) { return 0; }
    } else if (token == "MMM") {
        month = 0;
        for (var i = 0; i < MONTHS_SHORT.length; i++) {
            var month_name = MONTHS_SHORT[i];
            if (val.substring(i_val, i_val + month_name.length) == month_name) {
                month = i + 1;
                i_val += month_name.length;
                break;
            }
        }
        if (month < 1 || month > 12) { return 0; }
    } else if (token == "MM" || token == "M") {     
        month = _getInt(val, i_val, token.length, 2);
        if (month == null || month < 1 || month > 12) { return 0; }
        i_val += month.length;
    } else if (token == "dd" || token == "d") {
        date = _getInt(val, i_val, token.length, 2);
        if (date == null || date < 1 || date > 31) { return 0; }
        i_val += date.length;
    } else {
        if (val.substring(i_val, i_val+token.length) != token) {return 0;}
        else {i_val += token.length;}
    }
}

// If there are any trailing characters left in the value, it doesn't match
if (i_val != val.length) { return 0; }

// Is date valid for month?
if (month == 2) {
    // Check for leap year
    if ((year%4 == 0 && year%100 != 0) || (year%400 == 0)) { // leap year
        if (date > 29) { return false; }
    } else {
        if (date > 28) { return false; }
    }
}
if (month == 4 || month == 6 || month == 9 || month == 11) {
    if (date > 30) { return false; }
}
return new Date(year, month - 1, date);
}