DateType Field

Rendering a single HTML5 Text Box

For a better user experience, you may want to render a single text field and use some kind of "date picker" to help your user fill in the right format. To do that, use the single_text widget:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\DateType;
// ...

$builder->add('publishedAt', DateType::class, [
    // renders it as a single text box
    'widget' => 'single_text',
]);

This will render as an input type="date" HTML5 field, which means that some - but not all - browsers will add nice date picker functionality to the field. If you want to be absolutely sure that every user has a consistent date picker, use an external JavaScript library.

For example, suppose you want to use the Bootstrap Datepicker library. First, make the following changes:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\DateType;
// ...

$builder->add('publishedAt', DateType::class, [
    'widget' => 'single_text',

    // prevents rendering it as type="date", to avoid HTML5 date pickers
    'html5' => false,

    // adds a class that can be selected in JavaScript
    'attr' => ['class' => 'js-datepicker'],
]);

Then, add the following JavaScript code in your template to initialize the date picker:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

<script>
    $(document).ready(function() {
        // you may need to change this code if you are not using Bootstrap Datepicker
        $('.js-datepicker').datepicker({
            format: 'yyyy-mm-dd'
        });
    });
</script>

This format key tells the date picker to use the date format that Symfony expects. This can be tricky: if the date picker is misconfigured, Symfony won't understand the format and will throw a validation error. You can also configure the format that Symfony should expect via the format option.

days

type: array default: 1 to 31

List of days available to the day field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice:

1

'days' => range(1,31)

placeholder

type: string | array

If your widget option is set to choice, then this field will be represented as a series of select boxes. When the placeholder value is a string, it will be used as the blank value of all select boxes:

1
2
3

$builder->add('dueDate', DateType::class, [
    'placeholder' => 'Select a value',
]);

Alternatively, you can use an array that configures different placeholder values for the year, month and day fields:

1
2
3
4
5

$builder->add('dueDate', DateType::class, [
    'placeholder' => [
        'year' => 'Year', 'month' => 'Month', 'day' => 'Day',
    ]
]);

format

type: integer or string default: IntlDateFormatter::MEDIUM (or yyyy-MM-dd if widget is single_text)

Option passed to the IntlDateFormatter class, used to transform user input into the proper format. This is critical when the widget option is set to single_text and will define how the user will input the data. By default, the format is determined based on the current user locale: meaning that the expected format will be different for different users. You can override it by passing the format as a string.

For more information on valid formats, see Date/Time Format Syntax:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\DateType;
// ...

$builder->add('dateCreated', DateType::class, [
    'widget' => 'single_text',
    // this is actually the default format for single_text
    'format' => 'yyyy-MM-dd',
]);

html5

type: boolean default: true

If this is set to true (the default), it'll use the HTML5 type (date, time or datetime-local) to render the field. When set to false, it'll use the text type.

This is useful when you want to use a custom JavaScript datepicker, which often requires a text type instead of an HTML5 type.

input

type: string default: datetime

The format of the input data - i.e. the format that the date is stored on your underlying object. Valid values are:

• string (e.g. 2011-06-05)
• datetime (a DateTime object)
• array (e.g. ['year' => 2011, 'month' => 06, 'day' => 05])
• timestamp (e.g. 1307232000)

The value that comes back from the form will also be normalized back into this format.

model_timezone

type: string default: system default timezone

Timezone that the input data is stored in. This must be one of the PHP supported timezones.

months

type: array default: 1 to 12

List of months available to the month field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice.

view_timezone

type: string default: system default timezone

Timezone for how the data should be shown to the user (and therefore also the data that the user submits). This must be one of the PHP supported timezones.

widget

type: string default: choice

The basic way in which this field should be rendered. Can be one of the following:

• choice: renders three select inputs. The order of the selects is defined in the format option.
• text: renders a three field input of type text (month, day, year).
• single_text: renders a single input of type date. User's input is validated based on the format option.

years

type: array default: five years before to five years after the current year

List of years available to the year field type. This option is only relevant when the widget option is set to choice.

by_reference

default: false

The DateTime classes are treated as immutable objects.

choice_translation_domain

DEFAULT_VALUE

This option determines if the choice values should be translated and in which translation domain.

The values of the choice_translation_domain option can be true (reuse the current translation domain), false (disable translation), null (uses the parent translation domain or the default domain) or a string which represents the exact translation domain to use.

:end-before: DEFAULT_VALUE

type: string, boolean or null default: false

choice_translation_domain

DEFAULT_VALUE

This option determines if the choice values should be translated and in which translation domain.

The values of the choice_translation_domain option can be true (reuse the current translation domain), false (disable translation), null (uses the parent translation domain or the default domain) or a string which represents the exact translation domain to use.

:start-after: DEFAULT_VALUE

compound

type: boolean default: false

This option specifies whether the type contains child types or not. This option is managed internally for built-in types, so there is no need to configure it explicitly.

data_class

type: string default: null

The internal normalized representation of this type is an array, not a \DateTime object. Therefore, the data_class option is initialized to null to avoid the FormType object from initializing it to \DateTime.

error_bubbling

default: false

data

type: mixed default: Defaults to field of the underlying structure.

When you create a form, each field initially displays the value of the corresponding property of the form's domain data (e.g. if you bind an object to the form). If you want to override this initial value for the form or an individual field, you can set it in the data option:

1
2
3
4
5
6

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\HiddenType;
// ...

$builder->add('token', HiddenType::class, [
    'data' => 'abcdef',
]);

disabled

type: boolean default: false

If you don't want a user to modify the value of a field, you can set the disabled option to true. Any submitted value will be ignored.

error_mapping

type: array default: []

This option allows you to modify the target of a validation error.

Imagine you have a custom method named matchingCityAndZipCode() that validates whether the city and zip code match. Unfortunately, there is no matchingCityAndZipCode field in your form, so all that Symfony can do is display the error on top of the form.

With customized error mapping, you can do better: map the error to the city field so that it displays above it:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults([
        'error_mapping' => [
            'matchingCityAndZipCode' => 'city',
        ],
    ]);
}

Here are the rules for the left and the right side of the mapping:

• The left side contains property paths;
• If the violation is generated on a property or method of a class, its path is the propertyName;
• If the violation is generated on an entry of an array or ArrayAccess object, the property path is [indexName];
• You can construct nested property paths by concatenating them, separating properties by dots. For example: addresses[work].matchingCityAndZipCode;
• The right side contains the names of fields in the form.

By default, errors for any property that is not mapped will bubble up to the parent form. You can use the dot (.) on the left side to map errors of all unmapped properties to a particular field. For instance, to map all these errors to the city field, use:

1
2
3
4
5

$resolver->setDefaults([
    'error_mapping' => [
        '.' => 'city',
    ],
]);

inherit_data

type: boolean default: false

This option determines if the form will inherit data from its parent form. This can be useful if you have a set of fields that are duplicated across multiple forms. See How to Reduce Code Duplication with "inherit_data".

invalid_message

type: string default: This value is not valid

This is the validation error message that's used if the data entered into this field doesn't make sense (i.e. fails validation).

This might happen, for example, if the user enters a nonsense string into a TimeType field that cannot be converted into a real time or if the user enters a string (e.g. apple) into a number field.

Normal (business logic) validation (such as when setting a minimum length for a field) should be set using validation messages with your validation rules (reference).

invalid_message_parameters

type: array default: []

When setting the invalid_message option, you may need to include some variables in the string. This can be done by adding placeholders to that option and including the variables in this option:

1
2
3
4
5

$builder->add('someField', SomeFormType::class, [
    // ...
    'invalid_message' => 'You entered an invalid value, it should include %num% letters',
    'invalid_message_parameters' => ['%num%' => 6],
]);

mapped

type: boolean default: true

If you wish the field to be ignored when reading or writing to the object, you can set the mapped option to false.