value

The value() method, called without any parameters, will return the selected date of the DatePicker widget.
The value(date) method is used in order to select passed as argument date.

<input id="picker" ></input>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function () {
        $("#picker").shieldDatePicker({
        });
    });

    $("#picker").swidget().value(); // return null
   
    $("#picker").swidget().value(new Date) // select the current date
   
    $("#picker").swidget().value(); // return current selected date

</script>