Set initial value in datepicker with jquery?

This simple example works for me...

HTML

<input type="text" id="datepicker">

JavaScript

var $datepicker = $('#datepicker');
$datepicker.datepicker();
$datepicker.datepicker('setDate', new Date());

I was able to create this by simply looking @ the manual and reading the explanation of setDate:

.datepicker( "setDate" , date )
Sets the current date for the datepicker. The new date may be a Date object or a string in the current date format (e.g. '01/26/2009'), a number of days from today (e.g. +7) or a string of values and periods ('y' for years, 'm' for months, 'w' for weeks, 'd' for days, e.g. '+1m +7d'), or null to clear the selected date.

You can set the value in the HTML and then init datepicker to start/highlight the actual date

<input name="datefrom" type="text" class="datepicker" value="20-1-2011">
<input name="dateto" type="text" class="datepicker" value="01-01-2012">
<input name="dateto2" type="text" class="datepicker" >


$(".datepicker").each(function() {    
    $(this).datepicker('setDate', $(this).val());
});

The above even works with danish date formats

http://jsfiddle.net/DDsBP/2/

From jQuery:

Set the date to highlight on first opening if the field is blank. Specify either an actual date via a Date object or as a string in the current dateFormat, or a number of days from today (e.g. +7) or a string of values and periods ('y' for years, 'm' for months, 'w' for weeks, 'd' for days, e.g. '+1m +7d'), or null for today.

Code examples

Initialize a datepicker with the defaultDate option specified.

$(".selector").datepicker({ defaultDate: +7 });

Get or set the defaultDate option, after init.

//getter
var defaultDate = $(".selector").datepicker("option", "defaultDate");
//setter
$(".selector").datepicker("option", "defaultDate", +7);

After the datepicker is intialized you should also be able to set the date with:

$(/*selector*/).datepicker("setDate" , date)