JQuery Datepicker - setMin Date problem

[John Johnson]

In JS 5.6.1 I want to restrict the range of dates that can be chosen so I modified controls.components.js.

This works for the maxDate - I can prevent dates being selected in the future by putting   maxDate: +0

I want tro set minDate to some date in the past say 1st Jan 2013', but every format I have tried does not work. 

Has anyone done this successfully?

(I am aware that I need to test this using the &_opt=false setting and then I need to run the optimisation process)

(I am also aware that I could limit the range on the input control - but this still lets a user enter an invalid date - it just flags it as invalid afterwards)