How do I simulate placeholder functionality on input date field?

Question

It\'s impossible to use placeholder on date fields but I really need it.

I want two date inputs with texts \"From\" and \"To\" on each one as placeholders.

Answer 1

The input[type="date"] DOMElement only takes the following value: YYYY-MM-DD, any other format or text with be skipped.

Live Demo

HTML

Pure JavaScript

window.onload = function () {
    /* Grab all elements with a placeholder attribute */
    var element = document.querySelectorAll('[placeholder]');

    /* Loop through each found elements */
    for (var i in element) {
        /* If the element is a DOMElement and has the nodeName "INPUT" */
        if (element[i].nodeType == 1 && element[i].nodeName == "INPUT") {

            /* We change the value of the element to its placeholder attr value */
            element[i].value = element[i].getAttribute('placeholder');
            /* We change its color to a light gray */
            element[i].style.color = "#777";

            /* When the input is selected/clicked on */
            element[i].onfocus = function (event) {
                /* If the value within it is the placeholder, we clear it */
                if (this.value == this.getAttribute('placeholder')) {
                    this.value = "";
                    /* Setting default text color */
                    this.style.color = "#000";
                };
            };

            /* We the input is left */
            element[i].onblur = function (event) {
                /* If the field is empty, we set its value to the placeholder */
                if (this.value == "") {
                    this.value = this.getAttribute('placeholder');
                    this.style.color = "#777";
                }
            };
        }
    }
}

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Performance review

In this exact case, with 2 input elements, Pure JavaScript is ~40% ± 10% faster.

With 32 input elements, the difference remains the same (~43% ± 10% faster for Pure JS).