Picker opening when leaving / coming back to browser window

[happypoulp]

First of all, Pickadate is just awesome (well built, great api, highly extensible, a pleasure to work with).

Thanks for it, I just discoverd it and I feel that it will become my only reference for date/time picker.

I did find a small issue that I think can be easily fixed:

Steps to reproduce:

1. Go on http://amsul.ca/pickadate.js/index.htm
2. Click on the first picker input
3. Click on a date to choose one (picker should close itself)
4. Click out of browser window
5. Click in the browser window (anywhere in the page)
6. BUG: The picker opens without the user clicking on it

Tested on Google Chrome Version 27.0.1453.110

I hope you have enough infos to fix, keep on the great work!

[brunogaspar]

It's a focus/blur thing, i've done this to fix it

onClose: function() {
    $('.datepicker').blur();
}

I've done this for both date and time pickers.. but yeah it's annoying

[happypoulp]

Thanks for the tip, I'll do that for now.

[amsul]

Once again, @brunogaspar, thanks for the quick tip.

The only shortcoming of this solution is that the users lose their tabindex flow – which can be especially annoying if the field falls within a long form.

The only solution off the top of my head is to watch the page visibility api. When the user focuses onto the page and the date input was the last focused element, trigger a picker.close(true) to keep it closed with focus.

[brunogaspar]

I noticed an issue, not sure if it is related to the snippet i posted, but if i press the enter key it opens the date/picker-picker, my workaround was to disable the enter key on forms that has date/time pickers, but i haven't done much testing to see what is the cause.

[soaptray]

@brunogaspar, the solution works for me - thank you.

[Winni-]

Same, annoying thing.

[darrenhaken]

@amsul should we be aiming to add our own event hooks with the page visibility API or is this something that can be added to the API?

[amsul]

@darrenhaken, you’d have to add your own event hooks - there’s nothing within the API that compensates for it just yet..

[lijunle]

@amsul why not include @brunogaspar 's solution to the project's code.

onClose: function() {
    $('.datepicker').blur();
}

I consider this as a bug. 🐛

[amsul]

@lijunle because that’s not really great for accessibility. You lose keyboard focus from the input field.

The right way to do it is by checking the page visibility and closing it with focus if needed.

I’ve marked this for release in v3.6. If someone wants to take a stab at it, please feel free to :)

[lijunle]

Hi, @amsul . Thanks for your reply,

I do not get your meaning of

The right way to do it is by checking the page visibility and closing it with focus if needed.

Could you please explain more?

[amsul]

@lijunle yeah, in a comment above I wrote:

The only solution off the top of my head is to watch the page visibility api. When the user focuses onto the page and the date input was the last focused element, trigger a picker.close(true) to keep it closed with focus.

Here’s the page visibility API: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/User_experience/Using_the_Page_Visibility_API

[lijunle]

@amsul

I don't think the datepicker should pop up once the input box is focus. Split the focus and date picker pop up to two stages is better:

1. Use TAB to loop over the input boxes.
2. When datepicker input box is focused, input box show "press space or enter to show date picker".
3. Then press space or enter, datepicker pops up.
4. Press esc to close the pop up dialog, the return to point 2.

With this approach, there is no need to use visibility API. How do you think about this?

[amsul]

@lijunle that’s an interesting approach.

Although, I feel that it should only be split into two steps if there’s a way to enter data without the picker being opened.

That’s why the native date input on desktop splits it into a separate "dropdown" button, whereas on mobile it's a one tap action because it’s the only way to enter a value.

But regardless, using the current API, you can already achieve the mechanics you’re proposing by initializing like this:

$('#input').pickadate({
    editable: true
})

..and then binding a focus event that does something like this:

$('#input').on('focus', function() {
    // open the picker when enter/space is pressed
})

[thanpolas]

So any progress on this? It's been nearly 2 years for such an apparent bug

[RobertLowe]

I just did:

$picker.on 'close', ()->
  $(document.activeElement).blur()

To prevent the re-opening after switching tabs

[rroblik]

@RobertLowe working nice : )

Thanks

[jpfortier]

I added a check onOpen to see if the target class is already present. Does the job well enough for my situation:

$input.pickadate({
    onOpen: function () {
        if ($input.hasClass('picker__input--target')) {
            $input
                .pickadate()
                .pickadate('picker')
                .close(true);
        }
    }
});

[jtouzy]

onClose: function(){
  $(document.activeElement).blur();
}

Works for me too. It appears to be a bug : should release the focus when the dialog is closing.

[adrianmihalko]

Guys, I want to go to next field if I press TAB, but Datepicker is opening. I am already tried the blur method, but it's not working. Maybe because I am using date and time picker together?

$(document).ready(function()          
    {

      var datepicker = $('#date').pickadate({
        formatSubmit : 'yyyy-mm-dd',
        hiddenSuffix: 'date_submit',
        firstDay: 1,
        container: '#outlet',
        onSet: function(item) {
            if ( 'select' in item ) setTimeout( timepicker.open, 0 )
        }
    }).pickadate('picker')

var timepicker = $('#time').pickatime({
        min: [09,00],
        max: [17,00],
        format: 'HH:i',
        formatSubmit: 'HH:i'+':00',
        hiddenSuffix: 'time_submit',
        container: '#outlet',
        onRender: function() {
            $('<button class="picker__button--clear">Vissza</button>').
                on('click', function() {
                    timepicker.close()
                    datepicker.open()
                }).prependTo( this.$root.find('.picker__box') )
        },
        onSet: function(item) {
            if ( 'select' in item ) setTimeout( function() {
                $datetime.
                    off('focus').
                    val( datepicker.get() + ' @ ' + timepicker.get() ).
                    focus().
                    on('focus', datepicker.open)
            }, 0 )
        }
    }).pickatime('picker')

var $datetime = $('#tm').
    on('focus', datepicker.open).
    on('click', function(event) { event.stopPropagation(); datepicker.open() })


      $('#form').on('keyup keypress', function(e) {
        var code = e.keyCode || e.which;
        if (code == 13) { 
          e.preventDefault();
          return false;
        }
      });
        // enter keyd
        $("body").keypress(function(e) {
            if(e.keyCode==13 && e.ctrlKey) {
              $('#form').submit();  
              }     
        });
    });    

[dellert]

@adrianmihalko I have same problem

[sn3ka]

Hi, actually in my case

onClose: function(){$('.picker').blur();}

was not working. I had to blur the holder of the picker box with:

onClose: function() {$(".picker__holder").blur();}

[ecumike]

This is how you fix it properly... add this to your pickadate config when you set it and it will blur the particular instance that was closed, and not ALL instances (as the above code does):

onClose: function () {
    this.$holder.blur();
}

[leonardovillela]

@adrianmihalko Did you solve your problem? In my case even with the input disabled the tab opens the picker

[K1911]

The "reopening calendar" has bugged me too but the solution I found today was very easy:

// input_pickadate is the html input text: if the user click it we authorize picker to open
var input_pickadate = $('input[name="date"]').pickadate();

// the picker
var picker = $(input_pickadate).pickadate('picker');

input_pickadate.on( 'click', function(e){
        e.stopImmediatePropagation(); // does not seem to work
        $(picker).data( 'stay_open', true );
        picker.open();
});

picker.on( 'open', function(){
       if( !$(picker).data('stay_open') ){
            picker.close();
       }
});

// auto reopen is disallowed
picker.on( 'close', function(){
       $(picker).data( 'stay_open', false );
});

The only glitch is that the event 'open' is fired three times. I dont know why but there are not visual artifacts.

[CB-Sean]

@hidingmode After trying every solution in this thread, this is the combination that worked for me. I have to close both the .datepicker and the .picker elements.

[poziman]

@RobertLowe thanks a lot!

[samber]

This worked for me:

onClose: () => {
  $(":focus").blur();
},

[shockalotti]

I tried them all.

None worked.

But putting this before the config options worked:

$(function () { $('.datepicker').blur(); });

[shockalotti]

This is so hacky... but I found. putting a hidden "dummy" input before the pickadate one stopped the unwanted behaviour.

[RBakerBluestone]

I've tried every solution on this page. Nothing works.

This always seems to happen when using external libraries. You save time by implementing an external library, then you find some bug. You search and find posts offering a million solutions that do not work going back years (five in this instance).

It's probably best to build something like this from scratch that works exactly as you imagine. Honestly, how difficult can it be?

[RobertLowe]

Says the guy who joined github 15 minutes ago...

You should adjust your attitude here's why:

1. This is free, you didn't pay anything for it, read the MIT License, nobody owes you anything.
2. Not all applications behave the same, not all devices behave the same, thusly increasing complexity, for someone whom is paid nothing, they cannot promises assurances
3. Instead of non-constructive feedback/complaining, take up arms and offer a solution

How difficult can it be. Very, that's why software professionals have a job, nothing is perfect.

On a side note, yes, you'll need to go through many resources to find a solution for a specific problem, and over time, you gain something called experience which helps you adapt and manage problems with greater ease.

[RBakerBluestone]

Sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I did just create a github account so I could leave a comment. I'll concede that my commentary was unwarranted, and that of course nothing is owed to me.

This is the solution I found that worked for me:

var calendar_closed=false;  // global variable to track if the calendar was closed.

// inside pickadate declaration...
onOpen: function() { 
	  if (calendar_closed) { calendar.close(); }  // calendar is a reference to the pickadate object
	  calendar_closed=false;
},
onClose: function(e) { calendar_closed=true; }

Perhaps others can rewrite this without the use of a global variable. Right now, this is good enough for me.

Hope this helps.

Edit: updated code to work for a more generic situation.

@RobertLowe - PS, you were pretty great in The Outsiders. Cheers!

[DanielRuf]

Hi, thanks for the update.

Is there something that we can do / fix in pickadate to prevent this?

[RBakerBluestone]

It would be nice if the datepicker did not automatically reopen when a user returns to the browser tab.

For example:

1. Navigate to http://amsul.ca/pickadate.js/
2. Click on the first 'Try Me' to have the date picker open
3. Select a date from the date picker. The date picker should now hide.
4. Open and navigate to a new browser tab.
5. Return to the http://amsul.ca/pickadate.js/ tab. The date picker opens again.

I was able to make a simple solve by creating a global variable that tracked whether the date picker had been closed and use it in the onOpen & onClose events. My fix is a kludge, but perhaps a similar but more elegant solution can be incorporated into pickadate.

[DanielRuf]

I think it is related to some focus.

[neurot1k]

Adding document.activeElement.blur(); to onClose solved this issue for me in v3.6.0

[castrocristiano]

Adding document.activeElement.blur(); to onClose solved this issue for me in v3.6.0

It works for me:

Thank's.

[DanielRuf]

#160 (comment)

So this is not new ;-)

Would like someone to create a PR for this?