React provides form component through third party UI component library. React community provides a large collection of UI / UX components and it is tough to choose the right library for our requirement.

Bootstrap UI library is one of the popular choice for the developer and it is extensively used. React Bootstrap (https://react-bootstrap.github.io/) has ported almost all the bootstrap UI components to the React library and it has best support for date picker component as well.

Let us learn how to use date picker component from react-bootstrap library in this chapter.

What is date picker?

Date picker allows the developer to easily choose a date instead of entering it through text box with correct formatting details. HTML input element has type attributes to refer the type of data to be entered into the element. One of the type is date. Setting the type in a input element will enable the date picker.

<input type="date">

React bootstrap provides Form.Control component to create various input elements. Developer can use it to create date picker control. Some of the useful props of the Form.Control are as follows −

• ref (ReactRef) − Ref element to access underlying DOM node

• as (elementType) − Enable to specify element other than *<input>*

• disabled (boolean) − Enable / Disable the control element

• htmlSize (number) − Size of the underlying control element

• id (string) − Id of the control element. Uses *controlId* of the parent *Form.Group* component, if not specified here.

• IsInValid (boolean) −
  Enables / Disable the style associated with invalid data

• IsValid (boolean) − Enables / Disable the style associated with valid data

• plaintext (boolean) − Enable / disable the input and render it as plain text. To be used along with *readonly* props

• readOnly (boolean) − Enable / disable the readonly attribute of the control

• size (sm | lg) − Size of the input element

• type (string) − Type of the input element to be rendered

• value (string | arrayOf | number) − Value of the underlying control. Manipulated by *onChange* event and the initial value will be default to *defaultValue* props

• bsPrefix (string) − Prefix used to customize the underlying CSS classes

• onChange (boolean) − Callback function to be called when *onChange* event is fired

A simple date control component can be used as shown below −

<Form.Group className="mb-3" controlId="password">
   <Form.Label>Date of birth</Form.Label>
   <Form.Control type="date" />
</Form.Group>

Applying Date picker component

First of all, create a new react application and start it using below command.

create-react-app myapp
cd myapp
npm start

Next, install the bootstrap library using below command,

npm install --save bootstrap react-bootstrap

Next, open App.css (src/App.css) and remove all the CSS classes.

// remove css classes

Next, create a simple date component, SimpleDatePicker (src/Components/SimpleDatePicker.js) and render a form as shown below −

import { Form, Button } from ''react-bootstrap'';
function SimpleDatePicker() {
   return (
      <Form>
         <Form.Group className="mb-3" controlId="name">
            <Form.Label>Name</Form.Label>
            <Form.Control type="name" placeholder="Enter your name" />
         </Form.Group>
         <Form.Group className="mb-3" controlId="password">
            <Form.Label>Date of birth</Form.Label>
            <Form.Control type="date" />
         </Form.Group>
         <Button variant="primary" type="submit">
            Submit
         </Button>
      </Form>
   );
}
export default SimpleDatePicker;

Here we have,

• Used Form.Control with type date to create date picker control.

• Used Form component to create a basic form component.

• Used Form.Group to group form control and label.

Next, open App component (src/App.js), import the bootstrap css and render the date picker as shown below −

import ''./App.css''
import "bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css";
import SimpleDatePicker from ''./Components/SimpleDatePicker''
function App() {
   return (
      <div className="container">
         <div style={{ padding: "10px" }}>
            <div>
               <SimpleDatePicker />
            </div>
         </div>
      </div>
   );
}
export default App;

Here,

• Imported the bootstrap classes using import statement

• Rendered our new SimpleDatePicker component.

• Included the App.css style

Finally, open the application in the browser and check the final result. Date picker will be rendered as shown below −

Summary

React Bootstrap date picker component provides necessary options to create date picker form control.