create an array of dates between two dates

[RichiRichEH!]

Hello,

I am having an issue with a section of my code which I have tried nearly EVERYTHING I can think of to correct. I have a form which is being used as a Vacation request form. On it I have two date pickers which matter:

Start Date --> Date_5

End Date--> Date_6

I am trying to calculate the difference in days between these two dates factoring out Holidays (which are stored in an array) & working weekends (also stored in an array) and Weekends (which I have set in an Array of two values "SAT" & "SUN"). For right now my employer does not have a need for working weekends but it has been discussed (time in lieu etc) so it was important that it is there as an option. When I get my start date and end dates captured (code block 1 below) and have them run through the function (getDateArray) something VERY odd happens. The formatting I want is perfect BUT the start date gets bumped "up" one day and thus all of the calculations are wrong.

EX:

I select May 27, 2019 as my start date. I then select May 27, 2019 as my end date. My expectation is that I'd end up with an array of one element (Mon May 27 2019) instead I end up with an Array with Sun May 26 2019. This date then gets "removed" as a weekend and then I get a date count of 0.

Code Block 1: (captures and stores my fields into variables)

var startDate = new Date(this.getField("Date_5").value); //captures Start date from the form
var endDate = new Date(this.getField("Date_6").value); //captures End date from the form

Code Block 2: (function to create date array)

var getDateArray = function(start, end) {
    var arr = new Array();
    var dt = new Date(start);
    while (dt <= end) {
        arr.push((new Date(dt)).toString().substring(0,15)); //save in format <DOW<<MMM><DD><YYYY>
        dt.setDate(dt.getDate() + 1);
    }
    return arr;
}

I then found another option

var getDates = function(startDate, endDate) {
  var dates = [],
      currentDate = startDate,
      addDays = function(days) {
        var date = new Date(this.valueOf());
        date.setDate(date.getDate() + days);
        return date;
      };
  while (currentDate <= endDate) {
dates.push(currentDate);
    currentDate = addDays.call(currentDate, 1);
  }
  return dates;
};

my issue is that even when I eventually find an option which provides the correct value for my variable I am storing my new date array and it does not save it in the correct format I NEED to perform the rest of my forms logic. I am looking for each date to be stored in the format <Day of Week - 3 Chars> <Month - 3 Chars> <Day - two Chars><Year - 4 Chars>. As I said code block 2 above DOES yield the correct "formatting" but for some reason I cannot figure out why it is adjusting my start date and adding a day to it.

I am certain that this is something I am missing here. As an FYI I have also tried the toLocalDateString() and defined an options variable....which I could not get working either.

If there is any help out there I'd appreciate it.

Rich

[Bernd Alheit]

What can you see in the console when you execute following code:

var startDate = new Date(this.getField("Date_5").value);
var endDate = new Date(this.getField("Date_6").value);
console.println(startDate);
console.println(endDate);

[RichiRichEH!]

Oh wow....OK so that is the last time I assume something....

in my form I have date_5 & date_6 both text fields with the following formatting:

General:

Name: Date_5

Form Field: visible

Orientation: 0 degrees

Appearance:

Border color & fill colour both set to none

text is helv.

Options:

Align left

all others unticked

Actions:

None

Format:

Select Format cat: Date

YYYY-MM-DD (is the format selected)

Validate:

None

Calculate:

None

I cannot believe it - the field itself is reading the date wrong....

Two Test Cases:

Scenario #1:

Dates selected as the same:

2019-06-03 (as entered on the form for date_5 & date_6)

Output in console:

Sun Jun 02 2019 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)

Sun Jun 02 2019 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)

Scenario #2:

Selected two dates left Jun 03 selected then selected June 5 as my end date

Output in Console:

Sun Jun 02 2019 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)

Tue Jun 04 2019 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)

First off thanks for taking the time to respond...second....how the heck is this even possible?

Now armed with information (again thanks) I can confirm that if I enter this code:

1. var startDate = this.getField("Date_5").value; 
2. var endDate = this.getField("Date_6").value; 
3. console.println(startDate); 
4. console.println(endDate);

Scenario #1:

Dates selected as the same:

2019-06-03 (as entered on the form for date_5 & date_6)

Output in console:

2019-06-03

2019-06-03

Scenario #2:

Selected two dates left Jun 03 selected then selected June 5 as my end date

Output in Console:

2019-06-03

2019-06-05

I then tried to take the startDate var and pass it through separately to a new variable and "convert" to the new date object and I yield the same results as my 1st set of scenarios....my dates in both variables are moved up by one day.

Any thoughts?

[try67 · Accepted solution]

The issue is that the Date constructor only accepts date strings in a very specific format, and it's not the one you're using.
Instead, you should use the scand method of the util object, which is much more versatile. Try this:

var myDateFormat = "yyyy-mm-dd";
var startDate = util.scand(myDateFormat, this.getField("Date_5").valueAsString); //captures Start date from the form 
var endDate = util.scand(myDateFormat, this.getField("Date_6").valueAsString); //captures End date from the form 

And then to verify that the results are correct:

console.println(startDate);
console.println(endDate);