title: rails: set datetime column using value in a text_field
body: <p>My question is similar to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3809741/can-rails-automatically-parse-datetime-recieved-from-form-text-field">another one</a> about putting data from a text_field into a datetime column.  It appears that I need to put the data into the text_field in a particular order or rails wont accept it.  Thing is, I can't always control how a user will input the data.  In fact, since I just added a JQuery datepicker the value that the user puts in will almost always be wrong.</p>
  
  <p>I thought I could use Date.parse or Time.parse or DateTime.parse along with a setter method (mentioned in <a href="http://railscasts.com/episodes/32-time-in-text-field" rel="nofollow noreferrer">railscast 32</a>but that doesn't seem to be working for me either.  I keep getting an argument out of range error which also seems to be due to the input being in the wrong format.  </p>
  
  <p>Does anyone else use the JQuery datepicker to fill in a text field for the date?  What magic do you have to add to your model or controller to make it work?  Why is this so difficult?</p>