[FIXED] Format a date using the new date time API

Issue

I was playing with the new date time API but when running this:

public class Test {         
    public static void main(String[] args){
        String dateFormatted = LocalDate.now()
                                        .format(DateTimeFormatter
                                              .ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"));
        System.out.println(dateFormatted);
    }
}

It throws:

Exception in thread "main" java.time.temporal.UnsupportedTemporalTypeException: Unsupported field: HourOfDay
    at java.time.LocalDate.get0(LocalDate.java:680)
    at java.time.LocalDate.getLong(LocalDate.java:659)
    at java.time.format.DateTimePrintContext.getValue(DateTimePrintContext.java:298)
    at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatterBuilder$NumberPrinterParser.format(DateTimeFormatterBuilder.java:2543)
    at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatterBuilder$CompositePrinterParser.format(DateTimeFormatterBuilder.java:2182)
    at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.formatTo(DateTimeFormatter.java:1745)
    at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.format(DateTimeFormatter.java:1719)
    at java.time.LocalDate.format(LocalDate.java:1685)
    at Test.main(Test.java:23)

When looking at the source code of the LocalDate class, I see:

  private int get0(TemporalField field) {
        switch ((ChronoField) field) {
            case DAY_OF_WEEK: return getDayOfWeek().getValue();
            case ALIGNED_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_MONTH: return ((day - 1) % 7) + 1;
            case ALIGNED_DAY_OF_WEEK_IN_YEAR: return ((getDayOfYear() - 1) % 7) + 1;
            case DAY_OF_MONTH: return day;
            case DAY_OF_YEAR: return getDayOfYear();
            case EPOCH_DAY: throw new UnsupportedTemporalTypeException("Invalid field 'EpochDay' for get() method, use getLong() instead");
            case ALIGNED_WEEK_OF_MONTH: return ((day - 1) / 7) + 1;
            case ALIGNED_WEEK_OF_YEAR: return ((getDayOfYear() - 1) / 7) + 1;
            case MONTH_OF_YEAR: return month;
            case PROLEPTIC_MONTH: throw new UnsupportedTemporalTypeException("Invalid field 'ProlepticMonth' for get() method, use getLong() instead");
            case YEAR_OF_ERA: return (year >= 1 ? year : 1 - year);
            case YEAR: return year;
            case ERA: return (year >= 1 ? 1 : 0);
        }
        throw new UnsupportedTemporalTypeException("Unsupported field: " + field);
    }

As it described in the doc:

This method will create a formatter based on a simple pattern of letters and symbols as described in the class documentation.

And all these letters are defined.

So why DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern doesn't allow us to use some pattern letters?

Solution

LocalDate represents just a date, not a DateTime. So "HH:mm:ss" make no sense when formatting a LocalDate. Use a LocalDateTime instead, assuming you want to represent both a date and time.

Answered By - James_D
Answer Checked By - David Marino (JavaFixing Volunteer)