How to specify min/max date value for an inputDate component.

 Very often in projects, you get a requirement to restrict an user from selecting a date value before today's date and sometimes restrict an user from selecting a date value beyond today's date. In this blog post, I will explain you with simple steps how to achieve this feature using min and max values of an inputDate component.

1. minValue attribute: the minimum value allowed for a date value.
You can use this attribute to disable past dates before today's date by following below steps.

Step1: Drag and drop an inputDate component on a page.

Step2:  Define a managed bean variable minDate and override the getter of this variable as mentioned below. Here we are setting the minDate date variable to current date.

    public Date getMinDate() {
        try {
            Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
            java.util.Date date = cal.getTime();
            DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
            String currentDate = formatter.format(date);
            maxDate = formatter.parse(currentDate);
            return formatter.parse(currentDate);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return null;
    }

Step3: Go to inputDate component and set the minValue attribute to the managed bean variable created in step 2.

                <af:inputDate label="Min Value" id="id1"
                            value=""
                            minValue="#{pageFlowScope.TestBean.minDate}"
                            autoSubmit="true">
                </af:inputDate>

Run the page and see that all the past dates before today's date(6th Dec, 2016) are disabled.  

2. maxValue attribute: the maximum value allowed for a date value.
You can use this attribute to disable future dates after today's date by following below steps.

Step1: Drag and drop an inputDate component on a page.

Step2:  Define a managed bean variable maxDate and override the getter of this variable as mentioned below. Here we are setting the maxDate date variable to current date.

    public Date getMaxDate() {
        try {
            Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
            java.util.Date date = cal.getTime();
            DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
            String currentDate = formatter.format(date);
            maxDate = formatter.parse(currentDate);
            return formatter.parse(currentDate);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return null;
    }

Step3: Go to inputDate component and set the maxValue attribute to the managed bean variable created in step 2.

                <af:inputDate label="Min Value" id="id1"
                            value=""
                            maxValue="#{pageFlowScope.TestBean.maxDate}"
                            autoSubmit="true">
                </af:inputDate>

Run the page and see that all the future dates after today's date(6th Dec, 2016) are disabled.