Cannot deserialize value of type `java.time.LocalDate`

Question

In a Spring Boot app, I read data from JSON file and for the date fields, I get the following error:

2022-08-08 23:39:25 - Resolved [com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.InvalidFormatException: Cannot deserialize value of type java.time.LocalDate from String "5/8/1985": Failed to deserialize java.time.LocalDate: (java.time.format.DateTimeParseException) Text '5/8/1985' could not be parsed at index 0 at [Source: (File); line: 1, column: 113] (through reference chain: java.util.ArrayList[0]->...

The date format in the JSOn file is like "3/18/1965"

Here is my entity and request below:

public class Employee {

    // code omitted

    // I have really no idea how to format this date
    @JsonFormat(pattern = "dd.mm.yyyy", shape = JsonFormat.Shape.STRING)
    private LocalDate birthDate;

}

The problem is related to format, but I have tried many combinations and I need to be clarified about the following issues to fix the problem:

1. Which data type should I use to keep date (no need time and time zone)?

2. How can I format date field read from JSON? Which annotation should I use and should I also use this annotation in Request and DTO classes where birthDate field is defined?

Answer 1

Your formatting pattern fails on multiple points:

• You specify FULL STOP (dot) character as the delimiter. But your example input data has SOLIDUS (slash) character.
• You used a m which means “minutes” where you need to use M for month. See Comment by Kareem.

You need to study the DateTimeFormatter class Javadoc more carefully. And practice the parsing before use with Jackson.

You asked:

Which data type should I use to keep date (no need time and time zone)?

Use java.time.LocalDate .

Avoid the terrible java.sql.Date class that pretends to represent a date. It was supplanted by LocalDate years ago, with the adoption of JSR 310.