I've found a confusing/inaccurate experience with Timestamp field widget when the field is required.

Steps to reproduce

Create a Timestamp field on a content type; set it to be required, with no default value.

When editing, I see:
edit date field

Expected
According to the help text - I can leave this field blank, and when I save the node, it will populate with the date/time at which I submitted.

Actual
I cannot leave this field blank - the HTML5 'required' attribute enforces populating it before form submit. If I remove that attribute with browser inspector, I can submit, but the form API marks the field with an error because the value was empty. Populating it with the current date/time does not happen, regardless.

Here, what the help text says seems to be incorrect.

Solution?
Enforcing the field to be required, as configured, makes sense. The current date/time default can still happen, when the node/add form is loaded. Perhaps in this case, the wording of the help text should be adjusted.

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#20 drupal-timestamp-widget-use-current-time-2978467.patch1.19 KBAshM
#19 2978467-19-test-only.patch1.66 KBpcambra
#18 2978467-18.patch1.97 KBpcambra
#7 interdiff-2978467-2-7.txt6.63 KBscott_euser
#7 drupal-timestamp-widget-leave-blank-2978467-7.patch7.96 KBscott_euser
#2 2978467-02.patch1.19 KBmpdonadio
Screen Shot 2018-06-08 at 1.33.27 PM.png15.4 KBtea.time

Comments

tea.time created an issue. See original summary.

mpdonadio’s picture

mpdonadio
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commented
Version: 8.5.3 » 8.6.x-dev
Status: Active » Needs review
Issue tags: +Needs tests
StatusFileSize
new 2978467-02.patch1.19 KB

Nice catch. Can you confirm the field type? I think we are actually talking about Timestamp fields and not the ones provided by the datetime.module. That text appears only in TimestampDatetimeWidget.

I would propose something like this to remain BC.

Version: 8.6.x-dev » 8.7.x-dev

Drupal 8.6.0-alpha1 will be released the week of July 16, 2018, which means new developments and disruptive changes should now be targeted against the 8.7.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

joachim’s picture

joachim commented
Status: Needs review » Needs work

Patch looks ok but there are no tests, so setting back to NW.

tea.time’s picture

tea.time commented
Title: Date field - "Leave blank to use the time of form submission." is inaccurate if field is required / enforces a value even when field not required » Date field - "Leave blank to use the time of form submission." is inaccurate if field is required
Issue summary: View changes
Related issues: +#2978727: Use current time setting for the timestamp widget

@mpdonadio Hey Matt.

Yep my mistake, this is the Timestamp field type. (I'm not sure which component it belongs under in the issue metadata, though.) I updated the wording to refer to that.

I happened to find #2978727: Use current time setting for the timestamp widget which duplicates the second scenario I described (if the field is not required, the default to time of form submit prevents the ability to save with an empty value). Since your patch addresses the first scenario I described, I've removed the second one in favor of that other issue.

As to your patch, that makes sense - the field is required, thus the user must enter a value. I also like the idea of having a field setting for whether to default to the current time, which is actually what #2978727: Use current time setting for the timestamp widget proposes...

tea.time’s picture

tea.time commented
Title: Date field - "Leave blank to use the time of form submission." is inaccurate if field is required » Timestamp field widget - "Leave blank to use the time of form submission." is inaccurate if field is required

(whoops - reference correct field type in issue title)

scott_euser’s picture

scott_euser commented
Status: Needs work » Needs review
Issue tags: -Needs tests
StatusFileSize
new drupal-timestamp-widget-leave-blank-2978467-7.patch7.96 KB
new interdiff-2978467-2-7.txt6.63 KB

Tests added

scott_euser’s picture

scott_euser commented
Issue tags: +ContributionWeekend2019
mpdonadio’s picture

mpdonadio
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Location Philadelphia/PA/USA (UTC-5)
commented

Test changes look good to me. Would like to limit scope to just this bug for the description text, and do the weirdness of being required in #2978727: Use current time setting for the timestamp widget.

mpdonadio’s picture

mpdonadio
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commented
Status: Needs review » Needs work
Issue tags: +DrupalCampNJ2019 
+++ b/core/tests/Drupal/FunctionalTests/Datetime/TimestampTest.php
@@ -59,39 +73,57 @@ protected function setUp() {
+    // Add entity form and view displays for both fields.
     EntityFormDisplay::load('entity_test.entity_test.default')
-      ->setComponent($field_name, ['type' => $widget_type])
+      ->setComponent($field_name_required, ['type' => $widget_type])
+      ->setComponent($field_name_optional, ['type' => $widget_type])
       ->save();

Ok, very weird quirk that I am seeing. Test looks completely valid, and I stepped through the HTML output. When I test manually via the UI for field creation, I can't get an empty blank value to show up on the node edit page. This is because the field config page uses the actual widget, which sets the default value upon submission for the field settings. o_O

So, I can't reproduce the screenshot in the IS right now. Going through logs as I seem to recall an issue around default values with either timestamp or datetime.

mpdonadio’s picture

mpdonadio
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commented

And, after bouncing back to #2978727: Use current time setting for the timestamp widget, it looks like these problems are fairly coupled.

tea.time’s picture

tea.time commented

This is because the field config page uses the actual widget, which sets the default value upon submission for the field settings.

Yeeeep, that drives me nuts too... I had a client asking why all their test articles had exactly the same date/time, haha.

It's been awhile since I took that screenshot in the OP but I think what I must have done was manually edit the exported config to set the default value to empty, and then imported that config. Because of the widget as you noted, there's no way to set it as such in the admin UI.

I'm not familiar with writing tests tbh, but since this patch is particularly altering the help text - should the test only need to check the help text according to whether the field is required vs. not required, and not check for empty values in the widget?

sahil432’s picture

sahil432 commented

Related Issue Updated
https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/2978727

Version: 8.7.x-dev » 8.8.x-dev

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pcambra’s picture

pcambra
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commented
Issue tags: -ContributionWeekend2019, -DrupalCampNJ2019
Related issues: +#2791693: Remove sample date from date field error message and title attribute
StatusFileSize
new 2978467-18.patch1.97 KB

Adding another related issue, I think this is not accurate even for non-required fields, I've just tested this and got an error message: The Timestamp date is invalid. Please enter a date in the format 2020-10-18 17:15:27.

Adding a test that shows the case, not extending #7, just a test only patch.

pcambra’s picture

pcambra
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StatusFileSize
new 2978467-19-test-only.patch1.66 KB

A better named one.

AshM’s picture

AshM commented
StatusFileSize
new drupal-timestamp-widget-use-current-time-2978467.patch1.19 KB

Patch works on 8.9.13.
It does not have tests.

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