Java show Year only

Question

I have a Java application that allows me to customize reports. The report uses tags for things like dates and names etc.

I have this tag: <[ECHO text="dateFormat.format(currentDate)"/]>

which puts out the current date like this:

May 23, 2014

but I just want the year like this:

2014

How do I do that?

EDIT:

I tried: <[ECHO text="dateFormat.format('yyyy', currentDate)"/]>

But I get this error:

com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.TagValueEvaluationException: Error happened during evaluating 'dateFormat.format('yyyy', currentDate) ' of 'text' of 'ECHO' tag
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.advanced.b.evaluate(b.java:12)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.advanced.EchoTag.transform(EchoTag.java:6)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.TagBodyElement.transform(TagBodyElement.java:9)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.Body.transform(Body.java:4)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.BodyTag.transform(BodyTag.java:55)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.TagBodyElement.transform(TagBodyElement.java:9)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.Body.transform(Body.java:4)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.BodyTag.transform(BodyTag.java:55)
    at com.agilemind.commons.modules.dynatags.RootTag.transform(RootTag.java:18)
    ... 23 more

Thanks C

What error? Putting both what you attempted and the error you got would be helpful. — Makoto, May 23 '14 at 20:15
pattern is passed in constructor of `SimpleDateFormat` where you construct instance — jmj, May 23 '14 at 20:15
In your example tag, is the text in quotes actually java language code? Are you able to control how the `dateFormat` object is initialized? Are you able to initialize a different date formatter object and use it there? — Kenster, May 23 '14 at 20:26

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 23 '14 at 20:23

4

Use SimpleDateFormat.

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy");

now your code:

<[ECHO text="dateFormat.format(currentDate)"/]>

should give you the correct output.

answered May 23 '14 at 20:23

Joe Bauer

572
1
9
22

Thanks.. I defined an new variable in the head: <[DEFINE name="dateFormat" value="reportData.createDateFormat('MMM d, yyyy', 'en')"/]> <[DEFINE name="yearFormat" value="reportData.createDateFormat('yyyy', 'en')"/]> – Cybercampbell May 23 '14 at 20:30

Basil Bourque · Answer 2 · 2018-06-20T23:41:51.383

java.time

The modern approach uses the java.time classes.

LocalDate ld = LocalDate.parse( "2018-01-23" ) ;
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern( "uuuu" ) ; // Use just the year of the date-time.
String output = ld.format( f ) ;

2018

Joda-Time

Using the Joda-Time library, you could use a formatter to generate a string similar to the other answer.

Another solution is to extract the year number.

int year = DateTime.now().getYear();

About java.time

The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.

The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.

To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.

You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.

Where to obtain the java.time classes?

Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, and later
- Built-in.
- Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
- Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
- Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
- Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
- For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….

The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.

Java show Year only

2 Answers2

java.time

Joda-Time

About java.time