Date search control issues

[dylanmcreynolds]

A few issues with he Start Date and End Date control:

• It is difficult to use when the range of dates is greater than a single month
• Changing the end date with with the calendar control is not possible
• There are some strange issues with typing dates in with the keyboard

Consider the following scenario: I want to search from Jan 1, 2022 to March 2nd, 2022.

• Click in the "Start Date" area
• Click the calendar icon
• Navigate to Jan 1, 2022
• Click in the "End Date" area
• Click the calendar icon
• Navigate to March 2, 2022

The system performs the search. Now I want to change the end date:

• Click the end date
• Click the calendar icon

The system displays the start date, with visual highlights that show you're at the beginning of the range. There is no way to use the calendar control to edit the end date. If you click in the calendar now, the system deletes your dates!

OK, so let's try modifying the text by hand without the calendar control multiple times:

• Click in "Start Date" and add "2022-01-01"
• Click in "End Date" and add "2022-03-02"
• Click enter. The system searches.
• Click in "Start Date" and add "2022-01-02"
• Click in "End Date" and add "2022-03-02"

Now, if you try this scenario again, several things might happen:

• The system does not perform a search (no new message is sent to the server)
• The system might delete your dates (if you enter an invalid date)

I think it we might re-think the start and end date controls. If we had separate fields, each with its own calendar control, we could make it a little easier to add ranges, especially if they spanned different months. We would lose the ability to create a short range with one calendar control, but again, that's only possible if the range is in the same month.