[SOLVED] Changing format for date is not accepted

The issue is caused by PHP's `max_input_vars` limit.

The JEM Settings form currently submits all settings tabs in a single request. The base settings form uses around 382 input variables. The Countries tab was the main contributor: with 250 countries, each country posted a hidden value plus a checkbox value, resulting in about 500 input variables just for countries. Together with Custom Fields, the full settings form could exceed PHP's default `max_input_vars = 1000`, causing PHP to truncate the submitted data before Joomla/JEM receives it.

In new RC5, the Countries settings payload has been redesigned to drastically reduce the number of submitted variables. Instead of posting two inputs per country, JEM now posts a single compact JSON field. The JSON stores active countries efficiently by using continent-level parent selections when possible, and only listing individual countries when a continent is partially selected.

This reduces the Countries payload from about 500 input variables to 1 input variable, helping prevent the PHP `max_input_vars` warning and avoiding incomplete settings saves.

Thanks for your reporting.

Next release: Only JEM 5.0.0 rc5 for Joomla 5 and 6 [03.07.2026 13:00]:
github.com/jemproject/JEM-Project/blob/JEM-5.0.0-dev-beta1-from-4.5.0/pkg_jem_v5.0.0rc5.zip

Updating from joomla 5.4.6 and jem 4.4.2 to to new jem 5.0.0 rc5 at 2026-07-03 1500: 

• NO error message -> successful installation. 
• Database structure is without errors. 
• The update check now show a nice new panel with installed release 5.0.0 rc5
• I can edit/save all JEM setting without any issues -  default Maximum Input Variables at 1000 works

So this topic is "SOLVED" 
 

Perfect. Thanks for your testing with this last version.