# Perspective DateTime Picker "default" **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [July 2, 2021, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452 "2021-07-02T12:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andrew.Meronek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Andrew.Meronek](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Andrew.Meronek)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/1 "2021-07-02T12:46:29Z")
I’d like to configure a DateTime Picker to start with the current datetime on startup. This would make sense as an onStartup System Event, so I figure, create an onStartup system event script and run self.props.value=now() or something like that. But now() doesn’t work. How do I do this? ---
**Author:** ![victordcq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f6c823/32.png) [@victordcq](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/victordcq)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/2 "2021-07-02T13:05:29Z")
```auto from datetime import datetime self.props.value = datetime.now() ``` ---
**Author:** ![Andrew.Meronek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Andrew.Meronek](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Andrew.Meronek)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/3 "2021-07-02T13:09:42Z")
Ah, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![zacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@zacht](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zacht)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/4 "2021-07-02T14:29:07Z")
As a general rule I would avoid datetime. Everything using datetime returns a python object. It would be better, I think, to use `system.date.now()`. This will return a Java Date object which is the actual type that the Date Time Picker uses (no implicit conversion necessary). For this specific case, you could use an expression binding on the value. Your expression would be `now(0)` which causes the component to take the current date when it first loads, but the binding doesn’t execute again. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew.Meronek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Andrew.Meronek](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Andrew.Meronek)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/6 "2021-07-02T15:00:49Z")
Ah, I was thinking the expression would always update. So along this line of thought: dateArithmetic(now(0),-7,“day”) is a way to pick a day a week ago, and still lets the user pick another date after page load. Seems to work. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![zacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@zacht](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zacht)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/7 "2021-07-02T15:14:04Z")
Yep. That’s what I do when I want a default that a user can change if they want. You can also use the [add\*](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=58603820) expression functions. As far as I know they aren’t better than `dateArithmetic`, but I find them easier to remember than proper value for the field argument. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/8 "2021-07-02T15:55:44Z")
> [@zacht](#): > > As far as I know they aren’t better than `dateArithmetic` They are better. They use java's date/time infrastructure directly. I can't recall the details, but jython's implementation is flawed. ---
**Author:** ![zacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@zacht](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zacht)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/9 "2021-07-02T15:59:43Z")
> [@pturmel](#): > > They are better TIL. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![Darshan\_Phadnis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Darshan\_Phadnis](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Darshan_Phadnis)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 6:19am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/10 "2022-01-29T06:19:46Z")
Hi Andrew, I am facing similar issue, and I tried the dateArithmetic function, and the picker picks the selected date, however it resets back to today’s date if there is a 0 in the dateArithmetic function in its second value. Not sure if needs some scripting ---
**Author:** ![zacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ea5d25/32.png) [@zacht](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zacht)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/11 "2022-01-31T16:12:38Z")
Post the binding expression (formatted in three backticks). That’ll be the easiest way to get help. ````auto ``` # Put code here. ``` ```` Edited to better format the example. ---
**Author:** ![Darshan\_Phadnis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Darshan\_Phadnis](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Darshan_Phadnis)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/perspective-datetime-picker-default/48452/12 "2022-03-17T00:26:47Z")
Thanks. But I worked it out.