Can I add accelerators to enter a date in a Angular Material Datepicker field?

Question

I am working on a web application using Angular. Is there a way to add shortcuts/accelerators to the date input? For example, a user should be able to type "+1" and have the input resolve to tomorrow's date. At the very least I would like to be able to set an input of "6-18" to 6-18-2020 instead of 6-18-2001.

I am using Angular 9 and Material 8.

Answer 1

Here is how I solved this in case anyone else has the same issue. This enables dates to be entered via +1 (tomorrow), -1 (yesterday), etc.

I created a directive...

 export class DateEntryShortcutsDirective {
// form control bound to datepicker input
  @Input() control: FormControl;

  constructor() {}

// listen for change events on the datepicker input
  @HostListener('change', ['$event']) onChange(event: any) {
    this.setDate(event.target.value);
  }

  setDate(data) {
    if (typeof data === 'string' && data.length) {
// if values begins with '+' 
      if (data.substring(0, 1) === '+') {
// get current date and advance by however many days requested
        const dayDiff = +data.substring(1);
        const date = new Date(
          new Date().getTime() + dayDiff * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000
        );
// set the control value to date 
        if (this.control) {
          this.control.setValue(date);
        }
      } else if (data.substring(0, 1) === '-') {
// if value begins with '-'
// get current day and subtract days 
        const dayDiff = +data.substring(1);
        const date = new Date(
          new Date().getTime() - dayDiff * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000
        );
// set control to date
        if (this.control) {
          this.control.setValue(date);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The directive is then used like so...

<mat-form-field class="mat-form-field date items">
    <mat-label>Deliver NLT</mat-label>
    <input
      tabindex="{{ 80 + index * 1500 }}"
      matInput
      autocomplete="off"
      [matDatepicker]="receiverNLTDate"
      placeholder="Date NLT"
      formControlName="receiverNoLaterThanDate"
      (dateChange)="onReceiverNoLaterThanChanges()"
      [min]="
        this.data.reference.freightUnits[this.index]
          .receiverRequestedDeliveryDate
      "
      appDateEntryShortcuts
      [control]="receiverNoLaterThanDate"
      />
    <mat-datepicker-toggle
      matSuffix
      [for]="receiverNLTDate"
    ></mat-datepicker-toggle>
    <mat-datepicker #receiverNLTDate></mat-datepicker>