Date in a format

Question

I have this code

DateTimeFormatter fmt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'-'hh:mm")
DateTime dateTime1 = new DateTime()
println("dateTime1 : " + dateTime1)
DateTime formattedDate = fmt.parseDateTime(dateTime1.toString());
println("formattedDate : " + formattedDate)
DateTimeFormatter finalFormat = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm'-'hh:mm");
System.out.println("formatted date : " + finalFormat.print(formattedDate));

It prints out something like this :

dateTime1 : 2014-08-20T15:34:17.256-04:00
formattedDate : 2014-08-20T16:00:17.256-04:00
formatted date : 2014-08-20T16:00-04:00

I want a date in exactly this format(since those are the requirements)

2014-08-20T15:34-04:00

The problem with

formattedDate : 2014-08-20T16:00:17.256-04:00
formatted date : 2014-08-20T16:00-04:00

is for time difference it always prints out '16:00-04:00'

How do I get that ? The date is retrieved from the database which will be converted in to DateTime object.

When I try this :

    DateTimeFormatter fmt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ")
    DateTime dateTime1 = new DateTime()
    println("dateTime1 : " + dateTime1)
    DateTime formattedDate = fmt.parseDateTime(dateTime1.toString());
    println("formattedDate : " + formattedDate)
    DateTimeFormatter finalFormat = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm'-'hh:mm");
    System.out.println("formatted date : " + finalFormat.print(formattedDate));

the output changes :

    dateTime1 : 2014-08-20T15:59:34.876-04:00
    formattedDate : 2014-08-20T15:59:34.876-04:00
    formatted date : 2014-08-20T15:59-03:59

It should be -04.00. But comes back as '-03:59', which is buggy.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

The problem is in your pattern

"yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm'-'hh:mm"

When you add 'hh:mm' you are reading the time again as 04:00, however since it has read that it is a PM time already, this becomes 16:00. You should read a timezone as a timezeone with a Z , not as part of the time itself.

From the Javadoc for DateTimeFormat

Symbol  Meaning              Presentation  Examples  
------  -------              ------------  -------
Z       time zone offset/id  zone          -0800; -08:00; America/Los_Angeles

and

Zone: 'Z' outputs offset without a colon, 'ZZ' outputs the offset with a colon, 'ZZZ' or more outputs the zone id.

I suggest you use

DateTimeFormatter fmt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZZ")

Note: the - at the end is not a separator, but a minus sign. I am guessing the -04:00 timezone is the AEST timezone.

Answer 2

Your time format is incorrect, more specifically the last part makes it parse the timezone as the time of day (hours and minutes). Try using this instead:

DateTimeFormatter fmt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZZ")

Answer 3

Your offset format is incorrect ZZ is timezone with colon, and you need to add withOffsetParsed() -

DateTimeFormatter fmt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mmZZ");
String dateTime1 = "2014-08-20T15:34-04:00";
DateTime formattedDate = fmt.withOffsetParsed().parseDateTime(dateTime1);
System.out.println("formattedDate : " + formattedDate);
System.out.println("formatted date : " + fmt.print(formattedDate));

Output is

formattedDate : 2014-08-20T15:34:00.000-04:00
formatted date : 2014-08-20T15:34-04:00

From the DateTimeFormat javadoc ,

Zone: 'Z' outputs offset without a colon, 'ZZ' outputs the offset with a colon, 'ZZZ' or more outputs the zone id.

Answer 4

The other answers are correct.

But you could more simply use a built-in formatter to produce a format of yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm .

DateTimeFormatter formatter = ISODateTimeFormat.dateHourMinute().withZone( DateTimeZone.UTC ) ; 
String output = formatter.print( DateTime.now() ) + "Z";