Replicating Google Analytics DateRange picker - jquery-ui-datepicker

Question

I need to replicate the Google Analytics date picker (plus a few new options). Can anyone tell me how to highlight all the cells on a calendar between two dates. My basic JavaScript is OK but I think I'm getting a bit out of my depth.
I'm using JQuery 1.5.1 and JQuery UI 1.8.14.

Answer 1

In needed to replicate Google Analytics date picker as well. I know you were asking just about highlighting cells, but if someone else would prefer complete solution, you can see my answer from another question: jquery google analytics datepicker

Answer 2

Here's a solution using the built-in 'onSelect' event (jsFiddle):
$(document).ready(function() {
'use strict';
var range = {
'start': null,
'stop': null
};
$('#picker').datepicker({
'onSelect': function(dateText, inst) {
var d, ds, i, sel, $this = $(this);
if (range.start === null || range.stop === null) {
if (range.start === null) {
range.start = new Date(dateText);
} else {
range.stop = new Date(dateText);
}
}
if (range.start !== null && range.stop !== null) {
if ($this.find('td').hasClass('selected')) {
//clear selected range
$this.children().removeClass('selected');
range.start = new Date(dateText);
range.stop = null;
//call internal method '_updateDatepicker'.
inst.inline = true;
} else {
//prevent internal method '_updateDatepicker' from being called.
inst.inline = false;
if (range.start > range.stop) {
d = range.stop;
range.stop = range.start;
range.start = d;
}
sel = (range.start.toString() === range.stop.toString()) ? 0 : (new Date(range.stop - range.start)).getDate();
for (i = 0; i <= sel; i += 1) {
ds = (range.start.getMonth() + 1).toString() + '/' + (range.start.getDate() + i).toString() + '/' + (range.start.getFullYear()).toString();
d = new Date(ds);
$this.find('td a').filter(function(index) {
return $(this).text() === d.getDate().toString();
}).parents('td').addClass('selected');
}
}
}
}
});
});

Answer 3

I became desperate and came up with a solution on my own. It wasn't pretty but I'll detail it.
I was able to construct a div that had the text boxes, buttons and the datepicker that looked like the Google Analytics control but I couldn't make the datepicker work properly. Eventually, I came up with the idea of creating a toggle variable that kept track of which date you were selecting (start date or end date). Using that variable in a custom onSelect event handler worked well but I still couldn't figure out how to get the cells between dates to highlight.
It took a while, but I slowly came to the realization that I couldn't do it with the datepicker as it existed out of the box. Once I figured that out, I was able to come up with a solution.
My solution was to add a new event call afterSelect. This is code that would run after all the internal adjustments and formatting were complete. I then wrote a function that, given a cell in the datepicker calendar, would return the date that it represented. I identified the calendar date cells by using jQuery to find all the elements that had the "ui-state-default" class. Once I had the date function and a list of all the calendar cells, I just needed to iterate over all of them and, if the date was in the correct range, add a new class to the parent.
It was extremely tedious but I was able to make it work.