[2.1.x] Date format in Form

[Jens Alm]

I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to find a solution to this, if it is out there - it is hiding well.

I have a Model like this:

@Entity

public TestModel{

   public String name;

 

   @Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)

   public Date date;

   ...

}

I wrap this in a form and send it to the view like normal. In the view I am trying to get the date to be formatted with I18N. 

@helper.inputText(myForm("date")) or @helper.inputDate(myForm("date")) both output the date as 2013-05-22 no matter what I try. Is there a way to do this without writing several custom formatters (java.util.Date, java.sql.Date, java.sql.Timestamp to cover all variations)?

My knowledge of scala extends as far as creating templates for Play! and no further so I am unable to look through the source code and figure it out for myself in the short term at least.

Please help.

[Vikram]

Have you tried built in date formatter-

@Formats.DateTime(pattern="dd/MM/yyyy")

@Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)

   public Date date;

Vikram

[Jens Alm]

Thank you for the suggestion but it only helps part of the problem. Putting the pattern on the Model object makes it hard coded to a certain language/format. I18N should be able to handle several types of formats. I would like the solution if I could put a key in that annotation, like so:

@Formats.DateTime(patternKey="date.format")

and that is looked up in the messages like all other properties.

[Guillaume Bort]

The formatters are totally pluggable. You can create them in your app (or in an external library) to add more constraints/formats/validations to your app.

Here is the default @Formats.DateTime one:

https://github.com/playframework/Play20/blob/master/framework/src/play-java/src/main/java/play/data/format/Formats.java#L83

and the corresponding annotation:

https://github.com/playframework/Play20/blob/master/framework/src/play-java/src/main/java/play/data/format/Formats.java#L69

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[Jens Alm]

I have actually tried that and it doesn't work to override the definition of the Date.class converter. I have debugged the application and I think there is a bug here.

The first call to Formatters.print() calls FormattingConversionService.canConvert() which in turn iterates through all formatters that have a matching TypeDescriptor. If your new formatter annotation is not on the first field of that type, the formatter used will be the default built in Play! one which is fine in this instance. The next field, if it has the new formatter annotation will get the same formatter as the first because by now it has been cached as THE formatter for this type by the ConversionService.

I am sure this works great with new custom types which don't have a built in converter in Play! but it doesn't work for overriding. Please correct me if I'm wrong, I would love to be. Below is an excerpt of the code I have tried (and failed with). Most of this is copy/paste except for the key/messages part.

Annotation:

    @Target({FIELD})

   @Retention(RUNTIME)

   @play.data.Form.Display(name="format.date", attributes={"key"})

   public static @interface DateTimePattern {

      String key();

    }

Formatter:

    public static class AnnotationDateFormatter extends Formatters.AnnotationFormatter<DateTimePattern,Date> {

        public Date parse(DateTimePattern annotation, String text, Locale locale) throws java.text.ParseException {

            if(text == null || text.trim().isEmpty()) {

                return null;

            }

            SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(Messages.get(new Lang(locale.getLanguage(), locale.getCountry()), annotation.key()), locale);

            sdf.setLenient(false);

            return sdf.parse(text);

        }

        public String print(DateTimePattern annotation, Date value, Locale locale) {

            if(value == null) {

                return "";

            }

            return new SimpleDateFormat(Messages.get(new Lang(locale.getLanguage(), locale.getCountry()), annotation.key()), locale).format(value);

        }

    }

In Global:

    @Override

  public void onStart(Application application) {

      super.onStart(application);

      Formatters.register(Date.class, new AnnotationDateFormatter());

 }

[Guillaume Bort]

But do you apply the @DateTimePattern annotation on your field?

[Jens Alm]

Yepp, I do.

    @Formats.DateTimePattern(key="date.format")

    @Temporal(TemporalType.TIMESTAMP)

    public Date periodEnd;

[Jens Alm]

So is this a defect or am I still missing something?

On Thursday, May 23, 2013 2:19:05 PM UTC-4, Guillaume Bort wrote: