date returning null

[Joyce Derzaph]

I'm not sure if this belongs in this forum or another but the problem is in a servlet.
I'm trying to set a date and it keeps comming up null

currentDate = new Date();
dateSyntax = new SimpleDateFormat("s",Locale.getDefault());
dateSyntax.applyPattern("yyyy-MM-dd");
now = (long)System.currentTimeMillis();
currentDate.setTime(now);
clock = dateSyntax.format(currentDate);

currentDate.setTime(now) is where the problem is. now has a value.

Joyce

[Paul Sturrock]

Calendar calendarWithCurrentTime = GregorianCalendar.getInstance() 

would be an easier way to get the current time.
[ July 22, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Sturrock ]

[Shailesh Kini]

try using

public void setLenient(boolean lenient)Specify whether or not date/time parsing is to be lenient. With lenient parsing, the parser may use heuristics to interpret inputs that do not precisely match this object's format. With strict parsing, inputs must match this object's format.

Parameters:
lenient - when true, parsing is lenient
See Also:
Calendar.setLenient(boolean)

parse will throw a null pointer exception if the format is a mismatch.

cheers
skini

[Ken Robinson]

Try this:

 
  Date d = new Date();
  SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd", Locale.getDefault());
  clock = sdf.format(d);
 
 

If you look in the javadoc for java.util.Date, it's constructor description states that a Date created with the new keyword defaults to the current date/time.

The constructor you are using allows you to define the format and Locale in one line without need for a second call to applyPattern.