How to use Bootstrap Datepicker with PHP and MySQL using Ajax

In this tutorial, I will explain how to implement Bootstrap Datepicker in PHP and MySQL using Ajax. I will guide you step by step on how to work. So in this example, we will create a function that asks the user for their date of birth.

With the help of Bootstrap Datepicker, we can implement a fast process with an excellent user interface instead of doing it from scratch or just using a native date picker on chrome that does not support other browsers.

Index.html file

The following is the complete source code of index.html:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>How To Use Bootstrap Datepicker in PHP & MySQL using Ajax</title>

    <!-- Bootstrap CSS -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/css/bootstrap.min.css">
    <!-- Bootstra Datepicker CSS -->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/plugins/bootstrap-datepicker/css/bootstrap-datepicker.min.css">

</head>

<body>

    <div class="container">

        <br><br>

        <h1>How To Use Bootstrap Datepicker in PHP & MySQL using Ajax</h1>

        <br><br>

        <form action="process.php" id="form">
            <div class="form-group">
                <label for="email">Date Of Birth:</label>
                <input class="date form-control" type="text" name="date-of-birth">
            </div>
            <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" id="btnSubmit">Submit</button>
        </form>
    </div>

    <!-- Must put our javascript files here to fast the page loading -->

    <!-- jQuery library -->
    <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Popper JS -->
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.16.0/umd/popper.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Bootstrap JS -->
    <script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Bootstrap Datepicker JS -->
    <script src="assets/plugins/bootstrap-datepicker/js/bootstrap-datepicker.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Page Script -->
    <script src="assets/js/scripts.js"></script>

</body>

</html>

Script.js file

Next, our javascript is called scripts.js, imported from the code above. Please check the comments on each line so you can understand the process.

$(document).ready(function() {

    // Initialize the datepicker
    $('.date').datepicker({
        todayHighlight: true, // to highlight the today's date
        format: 'yyyy-mm-dd', // we format the date before we will submit it to the server side
        autoclose: true //we enable autoclose so that once we click the date it will automatically close the datepicker
    }); 

    $("#btnSubmit").on("click", function() {
        var $this           = $("#btnSubmit"); //submit button selector using ID
        var $caption        = $this.html();// We store the html content of the submit button
        var form            = "#form"; //defined the #form ID
        var formData        = $(form).serializeArray(); //serialize the form into array
        var route           = $(form).attr('action'); //get the route using attribute action

        // Ajax config
        $.ajax({
            type: "POST", //we are using POST method to submit the data to the server side
            url: route, // get the route value
            data: formData, // our serialized array data for server side
            beforeSend: function () {//We add this before send to disable the button once we submit it so that we prevent the multiple click
                $this.attr('disabled', true).html("Processing...");
            },
            success: function (response) {//once the request successfully process to the server side it will return result here
                $this.attr('disabled', false).html($caption);
                // We will display the result using alert
                alert(response);
            },
            error: function (XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
                // You can put something here if there is an error from submitted request
            }
        });
    });


});

Create database table

Next, create our database table. If you have already created your database then we will go ahead and create our table "dob" as your table name. Here is the code:

CREATE TABLE `dob` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `dob` date NOT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

Process.php file

Next, our final piece of code handles saving the submitted data:

<?php
    $request = $_REQUEST; //a PHP Super Global variable which used to collect data after submitting it from the form
    $date = $request['date-of-birth']; //get the date of birth from collected data above

    $servername = "localhost"; //set the servername
    $username = "root"; //set the server username
    $password = ""; // set the server password (you must put password here if your using live server)
    $dbname = "demos"; // set the table name

    // Create connection
    $conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
    // Check connection
    if (!$conn) {
      die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
    }

    // Set the INSERT SQL data
    $sql = "INSERT INTO dob (dob)
    VALUES ('".$date."')";

    // Process the query so that we will save the date of birth
    if (mysqli_query($conn, $sql)) {
      echo "New record created successfully.";
    } else {
      return "Error: " . $sql . "<br>" . mysqli_error($conn);
    }

    // Close the connection after using it
    mysqli_close($conn);
?>

Now you can enable bootstrap datepicker to save the data in the form by using PHP and MySQL Ajax.