datetimepicker using jquery (need to set default time of server (PHP))

Question

I am using jquery UI datetime picker. Javascript is client side script that's why it will pick date time form client machine.

Here is my code:

     <script>
                 //To set mindate in enddate
                    function customRange(input){ 
                        return {
                                minDate: (input.id == "end_date" ? $("#start_date").datetimepicker("getDate") : new Date())
                              }; 
                    }

                // To set maxdate in startdate
                    function customRangeStart(input) {
                        return {
                                maxDate:(input.id == "start_date" ? $("#end_date").datetimepicker("getDate") : null)
                              }; 
                    }

            //code for start date
                        $(document).ready(function() {
            //pick datetime from hidden input using jquery 
                          //var defaultdate = $("#date_server").val();
                          //alert(defaultdate);
                           $('#start_date').datetimepicker({
                               // I have set server datetime as default (not working) 
                               //defaultDate: defaultdate, 
                               beforeShow: customRangeStart,
                               minDate: 0,
                               dateFormat: "yy-mm-dd",
                               timeFormat: 'HH:mm:ss'
                           });

            //code for end date      
                           $('#end_date').datetimepicker({
                               beforeShow: customRange,
                               dateFormat: "yy-mm-dd",
                               timeFormat: 'HH:mm:ss'
                           });
                        });

                    </script>

<!--        Set server date in hidden input-->
                    <input type="hidden" name="date_server" id="date_server" value="<?php echo date("Y-m-d h:i:s"); ?>" >
<!--        Start date input-->
                    Offer start Date:<input class="form-control" type="text" name="start_date" id="start_date" value="" >
<!--        End date input-->
                    Offer end Date:<input class="form-control" type="text" name="end_date" id="end_date" value="" >

Now my question is that how can I replace javascript datetime from server datetime into this picker ? Now is there any way to pick server date time in this datetime picker (jquery UI)? Anybody did this before please guide me? Thanks.

Answer 1

If you're using PHP in the back end, you can use something like date('Ymd h:i:s') to use the server's time. You could generate a JavaScript code line with PHP, since PHP will be parsed before.

<script type="text/javascript">
var serverDate = "<?php echo date('Y-m-d h:i:s'); ?>";
...
</script>

Someone visiting your page would not see that PHP code, but the current date. For instance:

<script type="text/javascript">
var serverDate = "30 Jun 2014, 12:07";
...
</script>

---

For practical reasons, if you need to further manipulate the date (eg find things that are between two dates, or the difference in time between two dates), consider using timestamps. In PHP, time() would return the current timestamp.