Please fix datepickers and "" vs. null

💬 App Building
1

This on drives me a little nuts. Maybe there is a simple fix.

When I am creating a form or table that is editable I am constantly having to create a transformer that converts "" to null for date fields. When I dont do this, if someone removes/clears a date from the table or clears a date in a form, or even just doesn't fill in a non required date in a from it throws a "" is not allowed for datefield error on the database. Can you please change the default behaviour, or add a checkbox that defaults the field to null instead of "".

I fix this using transformers, or inline js in my queries to replace "" with null but it is starting to feel very unnecessary, as I cannot see a reason a date field would return "". Maybe there is something else I am missing, if so, please let me know how to properly set up dates.

Thanks,
Ben

1 Like
2

Hey there @ben_inkana,

Yeah, I completely get you.

I don't think this would change any time soon, see this post from a retool member some time ago:

Something you could do is create a global function (if you have beta functionality enabled in your account) so you can recicle that each time with a simple function and not having to write inline js or transforfmers.

1 Like
3

Do you know if retool shares the source code for their components? This would be great, as I could then just take the datepicker code and tweak it. Although this does show up in a lot of places...

4

Hey @ben_inkana - thanks for reaching out and advocating for this. :+1: I'll add your feedback to the internal conversation we use to track similar requests.

For context, the primary reason we built the component this way - and have resisted a significant overhaul - is that it aligns with the native behavior of an <input type='date' /> HTML element. One workaround that we've considered (and will likely implement) for a variety of such input components is an allowNull toggle that overrides this default behavior.

I'll update this thread as soon as I have any significant news to share!

1 Like
5

We do not, unfortunately, but you could conceivably build a custom component if you feel inspired to do so!

6

It would be great if you did. I use a CAD software that does this and it is brilliant. They share the source code for how all of their default features are created and you can use that as a springboard to extend of develop your own. Here is an example - Standard Library Documentation

You can also see their documentation - it has a link to see the source code (you need an account to see it) Introduction

This allows for users to see best practices and extend the software with a great head start.