Format date string into highcharts

Question

I've been trying to insert min and max string dates into my highcharts graph as follows:

    var formatted_startDate = startDate.replace(/-/g, ",");
    var formatted_endDate = endDate.replace(/-/g, ",");

    //Format now is "yyyy,mm,dd"
    options = {
       chart: {
           renderTo: 'container',
           type: 'bar'
       },
       xAxis: {
          type: "datetime",
        dateTimeLabelFormats: {
            day: '%m-%d'   
            },
        tickInterval: 24 * 3600 * 1000,
        min: Date.UTC(formatted_startDate),
        max: Date.UTC(formatted_endDate)

       },

Clearly the above won't work because I'm passing in a string. I've just written it like this to illustrate what I am trying to do rather than post code of numerous failed attempts. I've attempted using JSON.parse and eval() but had problems with the syntax.

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

Answer 1

ended up just uses the setExtremes method within highcharts API

    var formatted_startDate = startDate.replace(/-/g, ",");
    var formatted_endDate = endDate.replace(/-/g, ",");
            //Format now is "2000,00,00"

    var startdatearray = formatted_startDate.split(",");
    var enddatearray = formatted_endDate.split(",");

    var sy = parseInt(startdatearray[0]);
    var sm = parseInt(startdatearray[1],10) - 1;
    var sd = parseInt(startdatearray[2]);
    var ey = parseInt(enddatearray[0]);
    var em = parseInt(enddatearray[1],10) - 1;
    var ed = parseInt(enddatearray[2]); 

    chart = new Highcharts.Chart(options);
        chart.xAxis[0].setExtremes(Date.UTC(sy,sm,sd), Date.UTC(ey, em, ed));