Date Filters, Date Picker & Unique IDs for Gravity Forms – Hero Add-On

Hero for Gravity Forms lets you disable weekends, past dates and holidays in the Gravity Forms date picker, highlight today’s date, and make date inputs read-only – all without custom code. It also adds powerful date filters, time zone fixes, and unique / random ID generators for coupons, reference numbers and more.

If you use the Gravity Forms Date field for bookings, appointments or event registrations, you’ve probably needed to:

• Disable weekends so customers can’t choose Saturdays and Sundays.
• Disable past dates so users can only select today or future dates.
• Block holidays or blackout dates when your business is closed or fully booked.
• Allow only specific weekdays (for example Monday–Friday or weekends only).
• Prevent manual typing in the date input so users must pick from the calendar.
• Generate a unique ID for each Gravity Forms entry (reference codes, coupon codes, etc.).

Hero for Gravity Forms gives you a visual, no-code way to control the Gravity Forms date picker and to generate unique IDs for entries, without writing or maintaining custom code in your theme.

Features

Hero Essential (this free version) includes core date filters, time zone tools, today highlight, read only date inputs and basic picker animations. Some advanced options are only available in Hero Standard and Hero Advanced. For a detailed breakdown, see the full feature list.

Date Filters for Gravity Forms

Use Hero’s Gravity Forms date filters to control which dates are selectable in the Gravity Forms date picker:

• Disable past dates so users can’t choose dates before today.
• Disable weekends (Saturday and Sunday) or any other weekdays you don’t work.
• Block holidays, vacation days, blackout dates or fully booked days.
• Allow only a specific date range (minimum and maximum date).
• Combine rules to fine-tune availability for booking and appointment forms.

These rules are configured directly on the Gravity Forms Date field – no custom JavaScript or PHP code required.

Time Zone aware “today”

When your site has visitors from different time zones, “today” is not the same moment for everyone. Hero’s Time Zones feature helps you:

• Ensure today’s date in the Gravity Forms date picker is correct for your chosen time zone.
• Avoid situations where it is already “tomorrow” for some users, but your form still allows “today” as selectable.
• Keep date limits (min/max dates) consistent for global audiences.

Date picker highlights and animations

Make your date picker easier to use and nicer to look at:

• Highlight today’s date to give users a quick visual anchor.
• Choose open animations for the Gravity Forms date picker to match your site’s style.

Read-only date inputs (no manual typing)

If you want to prevent invalid dates or incorrect formats, you can use Hero to make Gravity Forms date inputs read-only:

• Force users to select a date from the calendar instead of typing.
• Reduce errors from manually entered dates.
• Keep date formats consistent across all entries.

Unique IDs for Gravity Forms entries

Hero includes a flexible Unique ID generator for Gravity Forms. Use it when you need a value that is both random and unique per entry, such as:

• Coupon codes or voucher codes.
• Ticket IDs, booking references or registration IDs.
• Internal reference numbers.

You can generate IDs with:

• Custom length and character sets.
• Optional prefixes and suffixes.
• Merge tag support so IDs can be used in confirmations, notifications and other fields.

Random IDs (when uniqueness is not required)

Sometimes you just need a random string for a field and it doesn’t have to be globally unique. Hero’s Random IDs feature lets you:

• Generate random character strings for passwords, promo codes or internal labels.
• Control the length and allowed characters.
• Use random values in any Gravity Forms field where you can use merge tags.

Typical use cases

Hero for Gravity Forms is ideal for:

• Booking and appointment forms – hide weekends, past dates and holidays so users only book when you are open.
• Event registration forms – allow only event days or block dates after a deadline.
• Delivery / pickup date selectors – restrict dates to working days and exclude holidays.
• Vacation request or leave forms – prevent selecting dates in the past and mark company holidays.
• Online orders and applications – generate unique IDs, application numbers or ticket codes.
• Any form using the Gravity Forms Date field where you need to restrict dates.