The Date/Time field enables you to collect dates, times, and combined date-time values.
Like most of our form fields, the Date/Time field type offers a range of configurable properties that allow you to tailor its behavior and appearance to your needs.
Detailed information on each property is available within the Form Designer. Click the "?" buttons for comprehensive hints.
Below, we have highlighted some key aspects of the Date/Time field type for your convenience.
Date/Time Type
This allows you to specify whether the field should capture dates only, times only or a combination date & time value. The choice is simple enough: just consider what value you need for your scenario. However, you should be mindful of the time zone implications of this option. Date and time values are easy to think about but become tricky when you have users working in multiple time zones. Depending on the option you choose, our platform will store values in either local device time zone or UTC/GMT time zone:
- Date Only stores values in local device time zone
- Time Only stores values in local device time zone
- Date & Time stores values in UTC time zone
On the app and platform side, our system automatically displays all Date & Time values according to the logged-in user's time zone, so users with dashboard access should see the Date & Time values adjusted for their time zone in the Data area of the secure website. As such, you don't need to worry too much about which option you choose, since the platform will take care of displaying the answer values in the appropriate time zone. We also provide an option in the Organization Setup page which lets you specify that the user-specific time zone be used when working with Date & Time values in template generation and general data export cases.
Time Intervals
This setting determines the minute intervals that the time selection field will display to the user. E.g., if you select 15 minutes, then the user will only be able to choose from minute values of 0, 15, 30, 45.
On the app and platform side, our system automatically displays all Date & Time values according to the logged in user's timezone.
So users should see the Date & Time values adjusted for their timezone in the Data area of the secure website.
As such you don't need to worry too much about which option you choose, since the platform will take care of displaying the answer values in the appropriate timezone. We also provide an option in the Organization Setup page which lets you specify that the user-specific timezone be used when working with Date & Time values in template generation and general data export cases.
Working with Date & Time values in formula and bound Data Source scenarios
When working with Date/Time field answers in formula scenarios - e.g., Dynamic Value, Visibility, Data Source binding - you should be mindful of the above time zone implications of your Date/Time Type decision for the field in question. You can convert date & time values between local and UTC time zones using the DATETOLOCAL() and DATETOUTC() formula functions.
If you are inserting/updating rows in a Data Source with Date & Time values from a Form (see our "Bind to Data Source" Form Recipe on how to do this), then you will see that the values in the bound Data Source column are in UTC time zone. This is consistent with our platform policy of storing Date & Time values as UTC time zone, and ensures that your Data Source will work correctly when bound to Date & Time fields.
How to get Date & Time values stored in your local time zone
If you want to have a Form which needs to capture a date & time value in your local time zone, then you should either:
- Use separate Date only and Time only fields instead of one Date & Time field. Remember that with Date/Time only fields, we store the values in device local time zone. You can always then combine these values as desired when utilizing these answers in templates or connectors.
OR - Use a single Date & Time field, but also add a Hidden field that stores the local date & time equivalent value. This is done by using the DATETOLOCAL() formula function in the Hidden field's Dynamic Value property.
Remember that Hidden fields store values in textual format, so if you want to use this Hidden field in a date formula - e.g., DATEDIFF() - then you need to convert the Hidden field back into a Date & Time value via the DATE() formula function.
Layout & Styling
Field Layout
This drop-down determines how this field is shown on the screen.
- Vertical places the Title and Hint vertically above the entry field.
- Horizontal will stack the entry field to the right of the Title and Hint text.
- Horizontal (Tablets Only) will use Vertical layout for phones and Horizontal for tablets.
Basic Properties
Data Name
This is the name of the field that should be referenced in any form logic or API calls. Users will not see this name on the form.
Data names cannot contain spaces or any special characters other than an underscore and must begin with a letter. They are case-sensitive and must be referred to precisely whenever they are referenced.
Title Text
This is the name of the field that will be displayed to users on the app. This property is completely optional; while a field must contain a data name, a field title is optional.
The text color may be chosen with a hex code. The text may be also formatted as Bold or Italic and given a relative size -- Small, Medium (the default) or Large.
Hint Text
This optional field can be used to show secondary information to the user in the app. Consider using this to provide instruction or clarification to the user as they fill out the field.
Formatting options for this property are the same as those given available for the Title Text property.
Background Color
The color chosen in the hex code field here will apply to the section field. The Transparent box can also be chosen instead for making this transparent instead of a solid color.
Advanced Options
Default Value
The value entered in this property serves as the initial value of the field prior to manual input. Please see this article for details on the relationship between Default Value and Dynamic Value.
Bind to Global Value
Global Values are a local key/value store that is available to any Screen on the app. Use this property to allow the user to view and save defaults for use across the app (e.g., a default project or customer). Please see this article for more information.
Exclude from Export/Display
By default, every field is displayed on Form entries in the Data area, and is included in non-templated exports (e.g., generic pdf, CSV, spreadsheet, database connectors). Use this property to prevent this field from showing on all such display and exports.
Is Personal Data
Indicates that data captured in this field may contain personal or sensitive data, which in turn can be anonymized when exported from the platform when then the "Anonymize Personal Data" option is checked on a form connector. Please see this article for more on this.
NOTE: Use of this option does not grant or imply additional security, protection and privacy of data.
Validation & Behavior
Required
Checking this box will enforce validation against this field to make the field required, disallowing the user from progressing to the next page or submitting the form if it is left blank. If the user tries, they will be prompted with an error to return to the field and enter a value. When this validation occurs is determined by the "Validation Property" chosen on the page level; please see this article for more detail on this.
This property can also be made conditional based on a formula. To enable this, click "add condition" below the checkbox and enter a formula into the field that populates. The formula serves as the basic of the required-ness of this field.
Please see this article for more information on conditionally-required fields.
Visibility
The contents of this field will determine whether the field will be visible to the user. For more detail on visibility rules, please see this article.
Dynamic Value
This property is used to define a calculation/formula that will populate the field's value. Often this is used in conjunction with the "Read Only" property (see below) so that the field will calculate and display to the user without the possibility of manual edits. This article is recommended as a starting point for more reading on this.
Please see this article for details on the relationship between Default Value and Dynamic Value.
Read Only
If this checkbox is checked, users will be able to see the contents of the field but will be unable to make edits.
Similar to the Required property, the Read Only property also includes the ability to define a conditional formula determining whether the read-only property is enabled. Click "add condition" to define such a formula.
Custom Validation
Add your own custom formula to this property for validating text entered into this field by users. The formula is only applied when the field has an answer. Enforcement will be done according to the "Validation Property" chosen on the page level; please see this article for more detail on this.
Validation Message
The contents of this property will serve as a custom message to display to the user if their input fails validation.
Restrict to Range
Checking this box enforces validation of the date/time value against the values in the two fields below the checkbox, enforcing that answers lie within a specified range.
