When developing enterprise ASP.NET applications it is common to require the input of dates. The two solutions provided by .NET and Visual Studio out of the box; using a textbox with validation and using a calendar control, are both flawed. A textbox leaves too much scope for the user to make a mistake with data entry. Should the 15th of January be written '15/1/06', '15/01/06', '15/01/2006', or '1/15/06'? Some users need to have a calendar to allow them to pick the correct date without regard to formatting.
