title: How do I check if a TDateEdit is left blank by the user?
body: <p>I'm using the TDateEdit control on Lazarus and I have set the date format to DMY. So I see some characters for the user like <code>'__/__/____'</code> in the date input box.</p>
  
  <p>My concern is that I don't want the user to leave this field blank so I'm trying the following code as a test:</p>
  
  <pre><code>  if dtWeekEndingDate.Date = 0 Then
       begin
         Errors := true;
         showmessage ('blank');
       end;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The code seems to do what I want but I'm not sure if this is correct.</p>
  
  <p>Is the above method the right way to check for an unset or unentered date? I used the <strong>.Text</strong> property but it doesn't seem to work.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>