Form
Date Field
A date field built on the native date input. The browser brings its own picker.
- Element
<slab-date-field>- Built on
<input type=date>- As Markdown
- date-field.md
Example
Here's a styled version, <slab-styled-date-field>. It's not
in the package — it's an example of what you can build with the
headless element. Copy it and make it yours at the
bottom of this page. Switch to "As it ships" to see the same markup
with the headless element and no CSS at all. That's your starting
point.
<slab-styled-date-field label="Pour date" min="2026-10-12" value="2026-10-16">
<span slot="description">The plant needs two days' notice.</span>
</slab-styled-date-field>
<slab-date-field label="Pour date" min="2026-10-12" value="2026-10-16">
<span slot="description">The plant needs two days' notice.</span>
</slab-date-field>
Usage
pnpm add slab-elements lit
<script type="module">
import 'slab-elements/date-field.js';
</script>
<slab-date-field label="Start date" name="start" min="2026-01-01" required></slab-date-field>
Behavior
A date field with no visual styles, around a native <input type="date">, so it is typed into, picked from, and read the way one is. The picker is the browser's own; a calendar of Slab's making is slab-calendar's job.
The value is the input's: an ISO "yyyy-mm-dd" string, or an empty one. What a person sees is formatted for their locale by the browser, but what's submitted and read is always that one format.
The label and the input are both in the shadow root, so a plain for reference names it without crossing out of one. The host delegates focus, so clicking anywhere on it, or a <label for> pointing at it, focuses the input.
Validity is the native input's. required, min, max and step are passed through to it, and whatever it decides is mirrored onto the host, so valueMissing, rangeUnderflow, rangeOverflow, stepMismatch and badInput all mean what they mean on an <input>. Nothing is computed twice.
Style it through its parts and through :state(disabled), :state(error), :state(readonly) and :state(required). Where the label sits relative to the input is layout, so it's left to the styles around it.
API
<slab-date-field>
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
label
Required
|
string |
||
autocomplete
|
HTMLInputElement['autocomplete'] |
||
disabled
|
boolean |
false |
|
hide-label
|
boolean |
false |
|
max
|
string |
The latest date allowed, as "yyyy-mm-dd". | |
min
|
string |
The earliest date allowed, as "yyyy-mm-dd". Also where step counts from. |
|
name
|
string |
'' |
|
readonly
|
boolean |
false |
|
required
|
boolean |
false |
|
step
|
string |
In days, or "any". Counted from min when there is one. |
|
value
|
string |
'' |
An ISO "yyyy-mm-dd" string. Like a native input, the attribute is the default value and the property is the current one, so the attribute doesn't change as the field is edited. |
version
|
string |
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
form
Read-only
|
HTMLFormElement | null |
|
validity
Read-only
|
ValidityState |
|
valueAsDate
|
Date | null |
value as a Date at midnight UTC, or null when empty, as on a native input. |
| Signature | Description |
|---|---|
checkValidity(): boolean
|
|
click(): void
|
|
focus(options?: FocusOptions): void
|
|
reportValidity(): boolean
|
|
resetValidityFeedback(): void
|
Clears the validity feedback without changing validity. |
setCustomValidity(message: string): void
|
|
setValidity(flags?: ValidityStateFlags, message?: string): void
|
|
showPicker(): void
|
Opens the browser's date picker. It's the native input's, so it throws where that one does, such as without a user gesture. |
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
input
|
Event |
|
change
|
Event |
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
description
|
Element | string |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
description
|
Text about the field, and its validity message when it has one |
input
|
|
label
|
The label |
validity-message
|
Copy and own it
<slab-styled-date-field> isn't in the package. It's an example —
copy it into your project and change whatever you want. Under the
hood, it's just the headless element, subclassed, with
styles set. That's it. Keyboard, focus, ARIA, forms, and
events all come from the headless element, and the styles only reach
in through ::part() and :state(), same as
yours would.
To use it, copy these files, swap the tag in
@customElement() for one of your own, and import it.
tokens.styles.ts holds the colors and fonts every styled
example shares, so you only need it once.
date-field.ts
import { customElement } from 'lit/decorators.js';
import DateField from 'slab-elements/date-field.js';
import textInput from './text-input.styles.js';
import tokens from './tokens.styles.js';
declare global {
interface HTMLElementTagNameMap {
'slab-styled-date-field': StyledDateField;
}
}
/**
* Date Field, styled: Text Field's look, with the browser's own picker.
*/
@customElement('slab-styled-date-field')
export default class StyledDateField extends DateField {
static override styles = [tokens, textInput];
}
text-input.styles.ts
import { css } from 'lit';
/*
The look shared by everything typed into: Text Field, Textarea, Number, Date
Field and Combobox, whose fields are "::part(input)", or "::part(textarea)"
for Textarea. File Drop starts from it too, for its label and description.
*/
export default css`
:host {
color: var(--ink);
display: grid;
font-family: var(--font-body);
}
[part~='label'] {
font-family: var(--font-display);
font-size: 1.0625rem;
font-weight: 600;
margin-block-end: 0.375rem;
}
:host(:state(required)) [part~='label']::after {
color: var(--ember-deep);
content: ' *' / '';
}
[part~='input'],
[part~='textarea'] {
background-color: var(--paper);
block-size: 3rem;
border: var(--border);
border-radius: 0;
box-sizing: border-box;
color: inherit;
font: inherit;
/* A fixed height, shared with Select, so fields line up in a row. */
padding: 0 0.75rem;
transition:
background-color 100ms,
border-color 100ms,
box-shadow 100ms,
translate 100ms;
&::placeholder {
color: var(--ash);
}
/*
The outline is transparent rather than gone, so it still shows in forced
colors, where box shadows don't.
*/
&:focus-visible {
box-shadow: 4px 4px 0 var(--ember);
outline: 2px solid transparent;
translate: -2px -2px;
}
&:disabled {
background-color: var(--chalk);
border-style: dashed;
color: var(--ash);
cursor: not-allowed;
}
}
[part~='textarea'] {
block-size: auto;
min-block-size: 7rem;
padding: 0.625rem 0.75rem;
resize: vertical;
}
:host(:state(readonly)) [part~='input'],
:host(:state(readonly)) [part~='textarea'] {
background-color: var(--chalk);
}
:host(:state(error)) [part~='input'],
:host(:state(error)) [part~='textarea'] {
border-color: var(--ember-deep);
}
/*
Spaced by what's in it rather than by a gap, so a description with
nothing in it takes no room, and a control beside the field lines up
with its bottom edge.
*/
[part~='description'] {
color: var(--ash);
display: grid;
font-size: 0.875rem;
}
::slotted([slot='description']) {
margin-block-start: 0.375rem;
}
[part~='validity-message'] {
color: var(--ember-deep);
font-weight: 600;
margin-block-start: 0.375rem;
&::before {
content: '■ ' / '';
}
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
[part~='input'],
[part~='textarea'] {
transition: none;
}
}
`;
tokens.styles.ts
import { css } from 'lit';
/*
The styled components' palette and type, taken from the logo: ink for the
courses, ember for the base, paper behind them.
Each is a short alias for a "--slab-styled-*" property, with the default as
its fallback. Retheming is "--slab-styled-ember" and the rest on ":root",
which every shadow root inherits. Were the defaults declared under those
names here instead, each host's own declaration would shadow the page's.
Each default is "light-dark()", so the components follow the page's
"color-scheme": "dark" for dark, "light" for light, and "light dark" to
follow the operating system. Ink and paper trade places in the dark, so
ink is always the text and paper always what's behind it. Contrast is given
as light, then dark.
*/
export default css`
:host {
/* Secondary text. 6.8:1 and 6.9:1 on paper. */
--ash: var(--slab-styled-ash, light-dark(#5e5a55, #a8a19a));
--border: 2px solid var(--ink);
/* Behind disabled and read-only controls, and hovered rows. */
--chalk: var(--slab-styled-chalk, light-dark(#f4f1ec, #2b2926));
/*
The logo's orange, brighter in the dark. 4.25:1 and 5.2:1 on paper is
enough for borders, fills and large text, but not always for small text,
which takes "--ember-deep".
*/
--ember: var(--slab-styled-ember, light-dark(#d9492a, #ec5f3b));
/*
Orange for small text on paper, and for paper text on it. 5.7:1 and
7.4:1.
*/
--ember-deep: var(--slab-styled-ember-deep, light-dark(#b3381a, #ff8566));
--font-body: var(
--slab-styled-font-body,
'IBM Plex Sans',
system-ui,
sans-serif
);
--font-display: var(
--slab-styled-font-display,
'Zilla Slab',
rockwell,
'Roboto Slab',
serif
);
--font-mono: var(
--slab-styled-font-mono,
'IBM Plex Mono',
ui-monospace,
monospace
);
--ink: var(--slab-styled-ink, light-dark(#1c1c1c, #f4f1ec));
--paper: var(--slab-styled-paper, light-dark(#fff, #1a1918));
/* The hard, offset shadow a raised surface casts. */
--shadow: 4px 4px 0 var(--ink);
}
`;