Formatting date in JSP

[Wilson Gordon]

When I use ${person.birthday} directly, it shows up as

"Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 EDT 1975"

How can I format it to something like "June 11, 1975"? By using an EL function call?

Thanks in advance!

[Bear Bibeault]

You can't do it using an EL function (unless you write your own). But there's no need since the <fmt:formatDate> action of the JSTL does it for you.

Any reason that you need to use an EL function as opposed to the JSTL?
[ April 09, 2007: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]

[Wilson Gordon]

ah ok, thanks.

I'll just use <fmt:formatDate>.

[Wilson Gordon]

Related question:

I have a height value that's in inches. How can I format it so it's in feet and inches?

I tried the codes below but it gives 1 extra foot.

Example:
67 inches should be 5' 7"
but the code below gives 6' 7"

                <fmt:formatNumber value="${person.height / 12}" maxFractionDigits="0" />'
                <fmt:formatNumber value="${person.height % 12}" maxFractionDigits="0" />"

[ April 11, 2007: Message edited by: Wilson Gordon ]

[Bear Bibeault]

It's rounding up due to the fractional digit setting. If you put in 65 inches, you get the expected result.

For the feet calculation, you'll need to do bit more math to subtract out the fractional part. Or you could write an EL function that does truncating division for you.

[Ben Souther]

You could also subtract a foot if the modulus isn't zero.

[Paul Clapham]

Or do this to negate the rounding-up tendency:

<fmt:formatNumber value="${(person.height - 6) / 12}" maxFractionDigits="0" />

[Wilson Gordon]

Thanks for the replies!