DateTime field issue, updated value is not displaying

Question

Hi Everyone, 
 I have two fields dropdown and datetime. Date and Time field value will be updating when drop down value is changing and user can update the date and time value if require. This works fine. 
 But if you remove either date or time value then change the value in drop down then updated value is not displaying in the field but value in the variable is updated. This issue comes only when user removes one of the value in the date-time field. 
 Please let me know if u could find any solutions for this. 
 Code is as follows, 
 load( local!dropDownValue, local!dateAndTimeValue, { a!dropdownField( choiceLabels: { "Normal", "Urgent", "Medium" }, choiceValues: { "Normal", "Urgent", "Medium" }, value: local!dropDownValue, saveInto: { local!dropDownValue, if( rule!APN_isBlank( local!dropDownValue ), a!save( local!dateAndTimeValue, null ), if( local!dropDownValue = "Normal", a!save( local!dateAndTimeValue, now() + 30 ), { a!save( local!dateAndTimeValue, now() + 10 ) } ) ) }, placeholderLabel: "--Select--", label: "Dropdown" ), a!dateTimeField( label: "Date Time", value: local!dateAndTimeValue, saveInto: local!dateAndTimeValue ), a!textField( label: "saved date value", value: local!dateAndTimeValue ), } )

Thanks, 
 Bhargavi P.

Mike Schmitt · Answer

I was able to reproduce what you're talking about, but I'm not sure it's a bug exactly. From my rough understanding, the DateTime field goes into a special "in progress" state when only one of the two values has been filled out -- i.e. date OR time but not both (as in your example) -- meaning, i guess, that it is not executing a saveInto and also is not displaying whatever value is displayed in its "value" parameter (since it would be null until both sides are filled out the first time).

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Yes - this is the behavior I was explaining in my comment above. 
 Are you worried about a user clearing out just one side of the date/time field? If so, then the best solution would probably be to add a control allowing the user to "clear" the date/time value so that they're not tempted to clear one side at a time, possibly only clearing out one side before changing the dropdown. 
 Edited to add: using side by side layout, plus rich text icons with dynamic coloring and links, you can make a "clear" icon that works pretty seamlessly - example below: 
 load(
 local!dropDownValue,
 local!dateAndTimeValue,
 {
 a!dropdownField(
 choiceLabels: {
 "Normal",
 "Urgent",
 "Medium"
 },
 choiceValues: {
 "Normal",
 "Urgent",
 "Medium"
 },
 value: local!dropDownValue,
 saveInto: {
 local!dropDownValue,
 if(
 rule!APN_isBlank( local!dropDownValue ),
 a!save(
 local!dateAndTimeValue,
 null
 ),
 if(
 local!dropDownValue = "Normal",
 a!save(
 local!dateAndTimeValue,
 now() + 30
 ),
 {
 a!save(
 local!dateAndTimeValue,
 now() + 10
 )
 }
 )
 )
 },
 placeholderLabel: "--Select--",
 label: "Dropdown"
 ),
 
 a!sideBySideLayout(
 alignVertical: "BOTTOM",
 items: {
 a!sideBySideItem(
 width: "MINIMIZE",
 item: a!dateTimeField(
 label: "Date Time",
 value: local!dateAndTimeValue,
 saveInto: local!dateAndTimeValue
 ),
 ),
 
 a!sideBySideItem(
 width: "MINIMIZE",
 item: a!richTextDisplayField(
 value: a!richTextItem(
 text: a!richTextIcon(
 icon: "REMOVE",
 caption: "Clear Date/Time",
 size: "LARGE",
 color: if(rule!APN_isBlank(local!dateAndTimeValue),"SECONDARY", "NEGATIVE")
 ),
 link: a!dynamicLink(
 showWhen: not(rule!APN_isBlank(local!dateAndTimeValue)),
 saveInto: {
 a!save(
 local!dateAndTimeValue,
 null()
 )
 }
 ),
 linkStyle: "STANDALONE"
 )
 )
 )
 }
 ),
 a!textField(
 label: "saved date value",
 value: local!dateAndTimeValue
 )
 }
)

Mike Schmitt · Answer

bhargavip0001 said: but I can't restrict the user to not to clear date or time alone 
 No, we have no control over this. 
 Basically the way you should think of it is: the date/time field only executes its save once both sides have a value entered (either a value provided for both sides, or both sides are cleared). As I said, we have no control over this and honestly, I don't think there is much Appian could do to fix this, since the expected behavior has to be that a user has to enter values on both sides before the component attempts to do a save, since otherwise it would be saving an incorrect value when only one side has been populated.

DateTime field issue, updated value is not displaying

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