Listing the datepicker methods

Along with the wide range of configuration options at our disposal, there are also a number of useful methods defined that make working with the datepicker a breeze.

In addition to the shared API methods discussed in Chapter 1, Introducing jQuery UI, such as destroy, disable, enable, option, and widget. The datepicker API also exposes the following unique methods:

Method	Used to…
dialog	Open the datepicker in a dialog widget.
getDate	Get the currently selected date.
hide	Programmatically close a datepicker.
isDisabled	Determine whether a datepicker is disabled.
refresh	Redraw the datepicker.
setDate	Programmatically select a date.
show	Programmatically show a datepicker.

Let's take a look at some of these methods in more detail, beginning with selecting dates programmatically.

Selecting a date programmatically

There may be times (such as on dynamic, client-server sites), when we want to be able to set a particular date from...