Is it possible to allow date strings to have a value of empty string ("") ?

[SamSedivy]

General information

Is it possible to allow date strings to have a value of empty string ("") ? I have date fields that aren't required and their values are empty strings. I don't want to validate them. I want to have date fields that aren't required.

• json-editor version:
  ^2.14.1

Expected behavior

Allow fields of type: string format: date to have the value ""

Actual behavior

Fields of type: string format: date show this error
Date must be in the format "YYYY-MM-DD".

Steps to reproduce the behavior

Use a startval of "" (empty string) for a field that is type: string format: date

Direct link to example: https://json-editor.github.io/json-editor/

{
  "title": "json schema example",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "example": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date",
      "description": "This is an example schema.",
      "default": ""
    }
  }
}

[SamSedivy]

Is it possible to remove the validation for fields with format = "date" ?

[schmunk42]

Sounds tricky...

What's possible is to define string,null for the property, but this does not exactly do what you want.

{
  "title": "json schema example",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "example": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "format": "date",
      "description": "This is an example schema.",
      "default": ""
    }
  }
}

Or you could use show_opt_in, but that removes the property completely if not set.

@SamSedivy Do you validate the data on the server also? Is an empty string valid?

@germanbisurgi any ideas? Is it possible to override the validation?

[germanbisurgi]

The problem is that json-editor shouldn't use format keyword for validation per default. More on that here.
A couple of solutions that came in mind:

With pattern

{
  "type": "string",
  "description": "Format 'YYYY-MM-DD', or empty.",
  "pattern": "^(|\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2})$"
}

with oneOf

{
  "type": "string",
  "description": "Format 'YYYY-MM-DD', or empty.",
  "oneOf": [
    {
      "title": "Date Format",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$"
    },
    {
      "title": "Empty String",
      "pattern": "^$"
    }
  ]
}

[matthiask]

This has bitten me as well.

Previously, this schema has worked fine:

    schema={
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
            "title": {"type": "string"},
            "issues": {
                "type": "array",
                "format": "table",
                "minItems": 1,
                "items": {
                    "type": "object",
                    "properties": {
                        "number": {
                            "type": "string",
                        },
                        "published_on": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "format": "date",
                        },
                    },
                },
            },
        },
    }

Now it already fails when initializing the editor for a new object. Changing minItems to zero allows the initialization to proceed. The oneOf thing isn't an option really since an empty string isn't valid but there's no way to even enter any data. The exact error is t.errmsg is undefined in the addInputError handler, but I'm not sure if that helps.

EDIT: The big problem is that the initialization fails and the je-not-loaded isn't removed; pointer-events:none makes it impossible to select the fields to start adding valid data.