Best way to validate a date?

[Elliott3]

I am wondering what the best way to validate a date is?

CES

 

[sleipnir214]

I've found that since many all-numeric date strings can be ambiguous, it's better to constrain the user's input at the browser side.

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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[cucurig1]

I think sleipnir214 is right. Do all possible validations at the browser side, especially using "onsubmit" event handler and javascript coding, and leave those validations against databases at the server side.
For more details see

http://www.sitepoint.com

 

[DRJ478]

Note:

I believe what sleipnir214 is talking about is breaking up the date into three input elements, day, month, year. When you submit the form there is no ambiguous format since you assemble the elements server side.
Validation is still necessary sinve they still could select Feb. 31 etc.

JavaScript is a good idea but you can't depend on it. It's best to never trust any cleint side submitted data. Always inspect and validate what is submitted.

 

[Elliott3]

Hi thanks for the suggestions. What I ended doing is.

list($month, $day, $year) = explode("/",$myDate);
if (!checkdate($month, $day, $year))
{

}

Works great! If you have any questions or comments, let me know.

CES

 

[DRJ478]

Does your solution take into consideration:
1. user enters 2-29-2003 or 29.2.2003 etc.?
2. if Javasciprt does the checking, how does the PHP code validate?

 

[Elliott3]

Of course. You can check out the funtion at:

http://ca2.php.net/manual/en/function.checkdate.php

CES