DateTextBox is optimized to handle the short date format commonly used to enter dates. In the U.S., the seventh day of December, 2012, is written in short date format as "12/7/2012".

If the jQuery Globalize library is loaded, the short date format is determined from the current culture. E.g., in France, the above date would be entered by typing "7/12/2012" (with day before month). All other date formats defined by Globalize are also accepted. If Globalize is not present, a simple parser is used that can accept U.S.-style short dates.

With or without Globalize, DateTextBox also supports abbreviated forms of the short date format that allow a two-digit year or a missing year. So, in the U.S., 12/7/2012 can be entered as "12/7/12" or (in the year 2012), "12/7".