Answers.Body: <p>Long story short, this is a bug in Craft 2.x that's already been fixed in the Craft 3.x branch.</p>
  
  <p>Considering there is a <a href="https://craftcms.stackexchange.com/questions/8348/how-do-i-save-a-plugins-date-settings-field/8358">workaround</a> for 2.x and the proper fix would be pretty ugly in 2, we're just going to let this one die a slow death with the release of Craft 3.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-04-07T20:00:26.327Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-04-07T20:00:26.327Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-04-13T12:51:00.200Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brad Bell
Body: <p>In my plugin settings page, I have a startDate input which is a dateTime field.</p>
  
  <p><strong>_settings.html</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>{{
      forms.dateField({
       'label': 'Start Date'|t,
       'instructions': 'Choose a date'|t,
       'id': 'myStartDate',
       'name': 'myStartDate',
       'placeholder': 'mm/dd/yyyy',
       'value': settings.myStartDate,
       'errors': settings.getErrors('myStartDate')
      })
  }}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My data is getting saved correctly - I can see it:</p>
  
  <p><strong>json</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>  ....
  "myStartDate": {
      "date": "2015-04-13 05:00:00
  }
    ....
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So I thought cool. I just need: <code>myStartDate.date</code> and all is well. No luck.</p>
  
  <p>What is curious to me, is when I fill out my start date, but my form fails validation, the date that I have entered is correctly repopulated. I don't have to re-enter the date.</p>
  
  <p>But, once I successfully submit my settings, and then come back, my date field is no longer populated.</p>
  
  <p>I've tried <code>myStartDate</code> and <code>myStartDate.date</code> and <code>myStartDate|date("m/d/Y")</code> but all with no luck.</p>
  
  <p>I feel like I'm abusing this community with so many questions lately. I know the dateTime field needs to be a dateTime object - and I assume that's why it's not working for me. I'm not passing it what it needs.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you for your time!</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-04-07T07:52:51.543Z
Comments.Text: No worries about "abusing" – this site is in beta and needs all the questions it can get, and this is a legitimate one. There seems to be some issues with how the plugin's settings model retrieves DateTime objects from the database – [see this thread](http://craftcms.stackexchange.com/a/8358/1098) for a workaround.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Mats Mikkel Rummelhoff
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-04-07T12:10:20.160Z
Comments.Text: Well, I feel slightly better now, I did read through the post you linked to prior to posting my question and I thought to myself - surely this isn't what I need - it's got to be something I'm doing. At least I'm going down the right path(s) I suppose. 
  
  Do you think it's "bug worthy" to bring up to the folks at Pixel and Tonic?
  
  Thank you again!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Damon
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-04-07T12:20:27.470Z
Comments.Text: I already sent Brad Bell a DM on Twitter asking him to check out the original thread, so hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on the matter :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Mats Mikkel Rummelhoff
Tags: <plugin-development><datetime><validation>
Title: Repopulate dateTime field in plugin settings page
ThreadText: # Repopulate dateTime field in plugin settings page
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-04-06)
  
  In my plugin settings page, I have a startDate input which is a dateTime field.
  
  **\_settings.html**
  
  ```
  {{
      forms.dateField({
       'label': 'Start Date'|t,
       'instructions': 'Choose a date'|t,
       'id': 'myStartDate',
       'name': 'myStartDate',
       'placeholder': 'mm/dd/yyyy',
       'value': settings.myStartDate,
       'errors': settings.getErrors('myStartDate')
      })
  }}
  
  ```
  
  My data is getting saved correctly - I can see it:
  
  **json**
  
  ```
    ....
  "myStartDate": {
      "date": "2015-04-13 05:00:00
  }
    ....
  
  ```
  
  So I thought cool. I just need: `myStartDate.date` and all is well. No luck.
  
  What is curious to me, is when I fill out my start date, but my form fails validation, the date that I have entered is correctly repopulated. I don't have to re-enter the date.
  
  But, once I successfully submit my settings, and then come back, my date field is no longer populated.
  
  I've tried `myStartDate` and `myStartDate.date` and `myStartDate|date("m/d/Y")` but all with no luck.
  
  I feel like I'm abusing this community with so many questions lately. I know the dateTime field needs to be a dateTime object - and I assume that's why it's not working for me. I'm not passing it what it needs.
  
  Thank you for your time!
  
  **Tags:** plugin-development, datetime, validation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: No worries about "abusing" – this site is in beta and needs all the questions it can get, and this is a legitimate one. There seems to be some issues with how the plugin's settings model retrieves DateTime objects from the database – [see this thread](http://craftcms.stackexchange.com/a/8358/1098) for a workaround.  
  > **username_0**: Well, I feel slightly better now, I did read through the post you linked to prior to posting my question and I thought to myself - surely this isn't what I need - it's got to be something I'm doing. At least I'm going down the right path(s) I suppose.   Do you think it's "bug worthy" to bring up to the folks at Pixel and Tonic?  Thank you again!  
  > **username_1**: I already sent username_2 username_2 a DM on Twitter asking him to check out the original thread, so hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on the matter :)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2015-04-07. Score: 2 | Accepted answer
  
  Long story short, this is a bug in Craft 2.x that's already been fixed in the Craft 3.x branch.
  
  Considering there is a [workaround](https://craftcms.stackexchange.com/questions/8348/how-do-i-save-a-plugins-date-settings-field/8358) for 2.x and the proper fix would be pretty ugly in 2, we're just going to let this one die a slow death with the release of Craft 3.
  
  
  ---
  
  