
[ Whats New in DatePickerBean Version 5.0 ]


Hi Friends,

Let me first take this oppurtunity to thank Java Developers around the world who have downloaded and are using this bean. Thanks for making this bean such a huge success (it has over 7,000 downloads from various sites).

This new update brings a lots of new features:

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It gives me immense pleasure to introduce the Swing version of DatePickerBean ie. JDatePickerBean.

You can use JDatePicker.jar file for the Swing Version.

It has all the feature of AWT DatePicker.

The Package for this new bean is JDatePickerBean.
The Class JDatePicker.

All classes of this bean are indentical to the DatePickerBean but with ' J ' as a prefix.

It has the same number of methods & constants.

Its identical to the DatePicker in every respect. Only difference is that its made up of Swing & not AWT.

Note: Swing components can only be viewed in a Browser that is swing conpatible ie. the swing plugin is installed in the browser.

This plugin can be downloaded from the Sun Microsystems Java Website - www.java.sun.com


Check out myapp2.java
FAQ no. 16

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One of the major additions to the DatePicker is the facility to use this bean in 3 different langauges.

The DatePicker is now available with 3 languages view viz. English, French & Finnish.

SetDisplayLanguage(int language )
getDisplayLanguage(int language )

static Language constants
LANG_ENGLISH
LANG_FRENCH
LANG_FINNISH

New Languages will be added in future versions based on user request.

Check out ChangeLanguage.java in the demo section for details.

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The DatePicker Button takes a lots of space even if you are viewing it in a simple ddmmyy format. New methods have been added to rectify this viz.

-public void autoResizeDPButton(boolean flag)
- public boolean autoResizeDPButton()

If set to true the DP Button will automatically resize itself according to the text content. If set to false it will remain set to a predefined internal size. Its advisable to set this settings once before the DP is first diaplayed.

Checkout AutoResizeDPButton.java in Demos

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Whenever the year is selected to get the year drop list the calendar flickers a lot. This has been rectified in this version.

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You can now directly go to the selected day by clicking the Current Day part at the bottom of the Calendar.

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Removed reference bug from setDate,setMinDate & setMaxDate & respective getMethods methods
//the bug
eg. dp.setMindate(dpmin.getDate());
now dp's mindate is refering to dpmin's date
now if we set dpmin.setDate(GregorainCalendar)
dp's mindate changes automatically without even using dp.setMinDate()
This can be a cause for a real trouble while using more than one object of DatePicker.

one of the noted problem - the Year list is not update as there is no call to dp.setMinDate()


Similar problem exists for setMaxDate

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Changed - Date Selection and Today representation.
Today is now represented by Bold/ Italics & bigger font instead of a Circle.
Date Selected is represented by bold & DateSelection colored font instead of a background circle.
 
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Another bug:

If the today is 31st of the month & the calendar is displayed the first time & you press the month change buttons to view the next month thwe month increases by 2 instead of 1.

The bug has been fixed.

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Utility Methods:

static public int getDaysBetween(GregorianCalendar date1,GregorianCalendar date2)
static public int getNumberOfDaysInYear(int year)

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You can now enable/disable date selection using this method. Although the user will be able to view the Calendar but he/she wont be able to change the Date.

public void enableDateSelection(boolean flag)

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Check out FAQs.txt for exiting tips.
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These are the new changes to the datepicker.

I would like to thank you all for all your mails, bug reporting & valuable suggesstions. I applozise for releasing this new update so late.Thanks a lot for your patience.

Regards,
Pramod S. Jaiswal


