How to Implement a Customized Date Picker in Your WordPress Contact Form
As a WordPress website owner, you may have encountered the need to include a date picker functionality in your contact forms. This can be particularly useful for allowing users to select specific dates, such as for scheduling appointments or events. However, the default options provided by plugins like Contact Form 7 may not always offer the level of customization you require.
In this article, we'll explore how you can create a WordPress contact form with a customized date picker, including the ability to disable specific dates. By building a tailored solution using jQuery UI's datepicker functionality, you'll be able to overcome the limitations of plugins and create a form that meets your unique needs.
Why Avoid Contact Form 7 for Date Picker Functionality
While Contact Form 7 is a widely-used and popular WordPress plugin, it may not always provide the level of control and customization you need for your contact form's date picker. Some of the key limitations of using Contact Form 7 for this purpose include:
-
Limited Customization Options: The date picker offered by Contact Form 7 is relatively basic, providing limited options for styling, formatting, and disabling specific dates.
-
Lack of Integration with Third-Party Libraries: Contact Form 7 doesn't natively integrate with popular date picker libraries like jQuery UI's datepicker, which offers a more robust and customizable solution.
-
Difficulty Handling Complex Date Requirements: If you need to implement more advanced date-related functionality, such as disabling specific dates or displaying a calendar with highlighted events, the built-in date picker in Contact Form 7 may not be sufficient.
By creating a custom WordPress contact form with a jQuery UI-based date picker, you'll be able to overcome these limitations and tailor the functionality to your specific needs.
Building a Custom Contact Form with jQuery UI Datepicker
To create a WordPress contact form with a customized date picker, we'll follow these steps:
- Enqueue jQuery UI Library: First, we need to enqueue the jQuery UI library, which includes the datepicker functionality. You can do this by adding the following code to your WordPress theme's
functions.php
file:
function my_custom_contact_form_scripts() {
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery-ui-core' );
wp_enqueue_script( 'jquery-ui-datepicker' );
wp_enqueue_style( 'jquery-ui', '//code.jquery.com/ui/1.13.0/themes/base/jquery-ui.css' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_custom_contact_form_scripts' );
- Create the Contact Form HTML: Next, let's create the HTML structure for the contact form, including the date picker field. You can place this code in a new template file (e.g.,
custom-contact-form.php
) or directly in your WordPress page/post content:
<form id="my-custom-contact-form" method="post" action="<?php echo esc_url( admin_url('admin-post.php') ); ?>">
<div>
<label for="name">Name:</label>
<input type="text" id="name" name="name" required>
</div>
<div>
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email" required>
</div>
<div>
<label for="date">Date:</label>
<input type="text" id="date" name="date" class="datepicker" required>
</div>
<div>
<label for="message">Message:</label>
<textarea id="message" name="message" required></textarea>
</div>
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
- Add the jQuery UI Datepicker Functionality: Now, we need to add the jQuery UI datepicker functionality to the date field in the contact form. You can do this by adding the following JavaScript code, which can be placed in a separate JavaScript file or directly in your WordPress theme's
functions.php
file:
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
// Enable jQuery UI datepicker on the date field
$('.datepicker').datepicker();
// Disable specific dates
var disabledDates = ['2023-04-15', '2023-05-01', '2023-12-25'];
$('.datepicker').datepicker('option', 'beforeShowDay', function(date) {
var stringDate = jQuery.datepicker.formatDate('yy-mm-dd', date);
return [disabledDates.indexOf(stringDate) == -1];
});
});
In this code, we first enable the jQuery UI datepicker on the date field with the class datepicker
. Then, we create an array of disabled dates (disabledDates
) and use the beforeShowDay
option to disable those specific dates in the datepicker calendar.
You can customize the disabledDates
array to include the specific dates you want to disable based on your requirements.
- Handle Form Submission: Finally, we need to handle the form submission process. You can do this by creating a custom WordPress action that will process the form data and send the email. Here's an example:
function my_custom_contact_form_submit() {
// Sanitize and validate the form data
$name = sanitize_text_field( $_POST['name'] );
$email = sanitize_email( $_POST['email'] );
$date = sanitize_text_field( $_POST['date'] );
$message = sanitize_textarea_field( $_POST['message'] );
// Construct the email content
$to = 'your-email@example.com';
$subject = 'New Contact Form Submission';
$body = "Name: $name\nEmail: $email\nDate: $date\nMessage: $message";
$headers = array('Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8');
// Send the email
wp_mail( $to, $subject, $body, $headers );
// Redirect the user to a success page or display a success message
wp_redirect( home_url('/contact-form-success') );
exit;
}
add_action( 'admin_post_my_custom_contact_form', 'my_custom_contact_form_submit' );
add_action( 'admin_post_nopriv_my_custom_contact_form', 'my_custom_contact_form_submit' );
In this example, we first sanitize the form data to prevent potential security issues. Then, we construct the email content and send it using the wp_mail()
function. Finally, we redirect the user to a success page or display a success message.
Remember to replace 'your-email@example.com'
with the email address you want to receive the form submissions.
By following these steps, you've created a WordPress contact form with a customized date picker that allows you to disable specific dates. This solution provides more flexibility and control than the default options offered by plugins like Contact Form 7.
Conclusion
In this article, we've explored how to create a WordPress contact form with a customized date picker using jQuery UI's datepicker functionality. By building a tailored solution, you can overcome the limitations of plugins like Contact Form 7 and create a contact form that meets your specific requirements.
Remember, the key benefits of this approach include enhanced customization, advanced date handling, improved performance, seamless integration, and better maintainability. If you're looking to add a more flexible and feature-rich date picker to your WordPress contact form, this custom solution is worth considering.
For more information on how Flowpoint.ai can help you identify and fix technical issues that impact your website's conversion rates, be sure to check out our website