Finding the max date from an array of dates using javascript

Question

There are two date fields namely 'Date 1' and 'Date 2'. On clicking the button 'Check', the maximum of the two dates need to be printed in the 'Max Date' field. So how to print the max date from a set of dates. I have tried pushing the date values into an array and finding out the max, but something seems wrong. Below is the HTML and javascript code.

function checkMaxDate() {
    var dateArray = [];
    var date1 = dateArray.push(document.getElementById('date1').value);
    var date2 = dateArray.push(document.getElementById('date2').value);
    var maxDate = Math.max.apply(Math, dateArray);
    document.getElementById('maxdate').value = maxDate;
}

Date 1: <input type="date" id="date1" />
Date 2: <input type="date" id="date2" />
Max Date: <input type="date" id="maxdate" />
<button type="button" onclick="checkMaxDate()">Check</button>

Your values will be strings, not dates. Does the user enter the dates themself? If so how do you know which format they will use? — Jamiec
– Jamiec, Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 15:32
Yes the user would enter the dates. The format is dd-mm-yyyy — John Durn
– John Durn, Commented Oct 21, 2015 at 16:52

guest271314 · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-21 15:48:30Z

2

Try wrapping document.getElementById('date1').value in new Date().getTime() .

Also input type="date" accepts value as yyyy-mm-dd ; try using .toJSON() , String.prototype.slice() to set date properly for #maxdate as yyyy-mm-dd from value returned as maxDate

function checkMaxDate() {
  var dateArray = [];
  var date1 = dateArray.push(new Date(document.getElementById('date1').value).getTime());
  var date2 = dateArray.push(new Date(document.getElementById('date2').value).getTime());
  var maxDate = Math.max.apply(Math, dateArray);
  document.getElementById('maxdate').value = new Date(maxDate).toJSON().slice(0, 10);
}

Date 1:
<input type="date" id="date1" />Date 2:
<input type="date" id="date2" />Max Date:
<input type="date" id="maxdate" />
<button type="button" onclick="checkMaxDate()">Check</button>

edited Oct 21, 2015 at 15:48

answered Oct 21, 2015 at 15:38

guest271314

1

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1 Comment

John Durn Over a year ago

Thank you very much. This helped a lot and it worked.

Sterling Archer · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-21 15:37:26Z

2

You were close. Try applying the function inside a newDate, and null instead of Math. You should also new Date(pushedArrayElement) to be a Date object, and not push Strings into the date array.

var maxDate= new Date(Math.max.apply(null,dateArray));

Note that there's cause for error because it's not guaranteed that the user input will be a legal date format.

edited Oct 21, 2015 at 15:37

answered Oct 21, 2015 at 15:33

Sterling Archer

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3 Comments

Jamiec Over a year ago

What about the fact that the 2 inputs are strings, not dates?

guest271314 Over a year ago

@SterlingArcher input type="date" accepts setting date as yyyy-mm-dd , not as value of new Date()

John Durn Over a year ago

Thank you very much, this helped a lot.

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