Why I Built My Own Date Picker for Oracle APEX
By Sajjad Hanifa · S&H Software Solutions · May 6, 2026
The Moment I Thought: "There Has to Be a Better Way."
I have been developing with Oracle APEX since 2014. Over all these years I have delivered countless projects – from financial applications to complex ERP systems. But sometimes it is the small things that really get to you.
A while ago I was working on an application for the healthcare sector. The app is used daily by nursing staff and clerks to register and manage insured persons. And what is almost always the very first thing they need to enter?
The date of birth.
Sounds simple. But it is not – at least not with the standard Oracle APEX date picker.
The Problem: A Calendar Not Made for Older Dates
Imagine you need to enter the date of birth of a 75-year-old person. You open the APEX calendar and – of course – it shows you the current month. Now you have to navigate backwards. Month by month. Year by year.
For someone born in 1950, that means scrolling back through more than 900 months if you only use the month arrows. Even with year selection it is painful – you always have to click on the month, then the year, then navigate back again.
For one or two entries, that is annoying. When your staff enters hundreds of records every single day, that becomes a real productivity problem. A UX problem. And honestly – also a quality problem, because frustration leads to mistakes.
So one evening I sat there and thought: "There has to be a better way."
My Solution: The APEX Smart Datepicker
I decided not to build a workaround – but a proper, clean Oracle APEX plugin. One that solves the problem at its root.
The APEX Smart Datepicker does exactly what the name promises: it is smart.
What Makes It Special:
Direct year and month navigation No more endless scrolling. One click on the year, one click on the month – done. For a 75-year-old insured person, you now need exactly 3 clicks instead of hundreds.
Auto-format while typing
The user simply types 04021950 – the datepicker automatically formats it to 04.02.1950. No dots to type, no errors, no frustration.
Min / Max date support
For our application it was important that no date in the future could be entered – after all, nobody can have been born yet. With SYSDATE as the maximum, this is handled with a single attribute.
Automatic language detection German or English – depending on the browser language. No additional configuration needed.
Custom primary color A single hex color code is all it takes – the datepicker automatically calculates all color shades for hover, border, and selected state. Perfect for corporate design.
From the Project to the Community
We originally developed this datepicker for our own application. It runs in production, our users are happy, and the input problem is solved.
But then a thought struck me: How many other APEX developers have exactly the same problem?
Oracle APEX has a wonderful community – and one of the best traditions of this community is sharing. Over the years I have learned an enormous amount from other developers: blog posts, open-source plugins, conferences.
So I decided: this datepicker does not belong to us alone. I am releasing it freely – for everyone who wants to use it, adapt it, or build on top of it.
MIT License. Free. Forever.
Technical Details
The plugin is completely self-contained – no external library, no jQuery dependency, no schema dependency. Everything is in three files:
we_datepicker.js– all JavaScript logicwe_datepicker.css– all stylesrender_date_picker.sql– the PL/SQL render procedure
It runs on Oracle APEX 22+ and needs nothing else.
Screenshots
Demo & Download
👉 GitHub: github.com/Sajjad-786/apex-smart-datepicker
Final Thoughts
I firmly believe that good software does not just have to work – it has to feel good to use. Especially when it is used every day by people who simply want to get their job done.
This datepicker may be a small plugin. But for the nursing staff and clerks who work with it every day, it makes a real difference.
And if it helps even one other APEX developer solve a similar problem – then the effort was doubly worth it.
Questions, feedback or ideas? Feel free to reach out – here in the blog, on LinkedIn or via YouTube.
Sajjad Hanifa
Founder & CEO, S&H Software Solutions
Oracle ACE Apprentice
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