FIX: Cannot Simultaneously Set DTPicker's MinDate And MaxDate (198880)

CAUSE

When an attempt is made to set either the MinDate or MaxDate properties, a SendMessage API call is made to send the "DTM_SETRANGE" message to the control to inform it of the new date range settings. This message can be used to set the date range in one of three ways:

Establish a minimum date with no maximum date.
Establish a maximum date with no minimum date.
Establish both a minimum and maximum date.

The MinDate and MaxDate properties that are exposed to the Visual Basic programmer correspond directly to the first two methods. The DateTimePicker control does not offer any property that directly corresponds to the third method, thus leaving no way to set both a MinDate and a MaxDate at the same time through the control's object model.

This problem does not affect setting the MinDate and MaxDate properties at design time.

RESOLUTION

Because there is no exposed property or method for setting MinDate and MaxDate at the same time, a direct call to the SendMessage API must be made to manually send the "DTM_SETRANGE" message with the appropriate information.

The parameters for this message consist of setting wParam to represent the part(s) of the date range you are setting; "GDTR_MIN" for the minimum date, "GDTR_MAX" for the maximum date, or the combination of both constants for setting the minimum and maximum dates at the same time. The lParam must be set to point to a two element array of SYSTEMTIME structures. The first element is for specifying the minimum date information and the second element is for the maximum date information.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Create a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.
From the Project menu, choose References, select "Microsoft Windows Common Controls - 2 6.0", and then click OK.
Add a DTPicker control to Form1.
Add five command buttons to Form1.

Paste the following code into Form1's Code window:

   Option Explicit

   Private Sub Command1_Click()
      ' Set DTPicker MinDate through normal means.
      Me.DTPicker1.MinDate = "1/10/99"
   End Sub

   Private Sub Command2_Click()
      'Set DTPicker MaxDate through normal means.
      Me.DTPicker1.MaxDate = "1/17/99"
   End Sub

   Private Sub Command3_Click()
      Dim TimeArray(1) As SYSTEMTIME
      Dim result As Long

      ' Define first element of SYSTEMTIME Array to be minimum date.
      TimeArray(0).wDay = 10
      TimeArray(0).wMonth = 1
      TimeArray(0).wYear = 1999

      ' Call API to send message to control to set MinDate.
      result = SendMessage(Me.DTPicker1.hwnd, DTM_SETRANGE, _
         GDTR_MIN, TimeArray(0))
   End Sub

   Private Sub Command4_Click()
      Dim TimeArray(1) As SYSTEMTIME
      Dim result As Long

      ' Define second element of SYSTEMTIME Array to be maximum date.
      TimeArray(1).wDay = 17
      TimeArray(1).wMonth = 1
      TimeArray(1).wYear = 1999

      ' Call API to send message to control to set MaxDate.
      result = SendMessage(Me.DTPicker1.hwnd, DTM_SETRANGE, _
         GDTR_MAX, TimeArray(0))
   End Sub

   Private Sub Command5_Click()
      Dim TimeArray(1) As SYSTEMTIME
      Dim result As Long

      ' Define first element of SYSTEMTIME Array to be minimum date.
      TimeArray(0).wDay = 10
      TimeArray(0).wMonth = 1
      TimeArray(0).wYear = 1999

      ' Define second element of SYSTEMTIME Array to be maximum date.
      TimeArray(1).wDay = 17
      TimeArray(1).wMonth = 1
      TimeArray(1).wYear = 1999

      ' Call API to send message to control to set MinDate and MaxDate.
      result = SendMessage(Me.DTPicker1.hwnd, DTM_SETRANGE, _
         GDTR_MIN + GDTR_MAX, TimeArray(0))
   End Sub

   Private Sub Form_Load()
      Me.Command1.Caption = "Set DTPicker MinDate Normally"
      Me.Command2.Caption = "Set DTPicker MaxDate Normally"
      Me.Command3.Caption = "Set DTPicker MinDate Via API"
      Me.Command4.Caption = "Set DTPicker MaxDate Via API"
      Me.Command5.Caption = "Set DTPicker Min and MaxDate Via API"
   End Sub

From the Project menu, choose Add Module and add a standard Module to the project.

Paste the following code into the module:

      Option Explicit

      Public Type SYSTEMTIME
         wYear As Integer
         wMonth As Integer
         wDayOfWeek As Integer
         wDay As Integer
         wHour As Integer
         wMinute As Integer
         wSecond As Integer
         wMilliseconds As Integer
      End Type

      Public Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias _
         "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
         ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long

      Public Const DTM_SETRANGE = &H1004&
      Public Const GDTR_MIN = 1
      Public Const GDTR_MAX = 2

Save and run the sample.
Try each button (based on their captions) and attempt to select a date outside the specified range.

When setting a minimum date, the command buttons use the date "1/10/99" and "1/17/99" is used when setting a maximum date.

The first two command buttons allow you to set either the MinDate or MaxDate but not both concurrently. The third and fourth buttons perform the same as the first two but they demonstrate how to set the MinDate or MaxDate using the API instead of the properties. The last command button demonstrates using the API to set both the MinDate and MaxDate at the same time.