So I would expect this code to work under the new Java 8 date/time package since all it does is to convert a given ZonedDateTime to string and back using the same built-in DateTimeFormatter instance (ISO_INSTANT):
ZonedDateTime now = ZonedDateTime.now();
System.out.println(ZonedDateTime.parse(
now.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT),
DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT));
But apparently it doesn't:
Exception in thread "main" java.time.format.DateTimeParseException: Text '2014-09-01T19:37:48.549Z' could not be parsed: Unable to obtain ZonedDateTime from TemporalAccessor: {MilliOfSecond=549, NanoOfSecond=549000000, MicroOfSecond=549000, InstantSeconds=1409600268},ISO of type java.time.format.Parsed
at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.createError(DateTimeFormatter.java:1918)
at java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.parse(DateTimeFormatter.java:1853)
at java.time.ZonedDateTime.parse(ZonedDateTime.java:597)
I have seen this entry already, but it didn't help me because a need a ZonedDateTime object and not a local one and also because I already have 8u20 installed: Unable to obtain ZonedDateTime from TemporalAccessor using DateTimeFormatter and ZonedDateTime in Java 8
Anyone have any idea what's happening here?
The ISO_INSTANT
formatter is documented here - "This is a special case formatter intended to allow a human readable form of an Instant". As such, this formatter is intended for use with an Instant
not a ZonedDateTime
.
Formatting
When formatting, ISO_INSTANT
can format any temporal object that can provide ChronoField.INSTANT_SECONDS
and ChronoField.NANO_OF_SECOND
. Both Instant
and ZonedDateTime
can provide these two fields, thus both work:
// works with Instant
Instant instant = Instant.now();
System.out.println(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT.format(instant));
// works with ZonedDateTime
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.now();
System.out.println(zdt.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT));
// example output
2014-09-02T08:05:23.653Z
Parsing
When parsing, ISO_INSTANT
will only produce ChronoField.INSTANT_SECONDS
and ChronoField.NANO_OF_SECOND
. An Instant
can be built from those two fields, but ZonedDateTime
requires a ZoneId
as well:
To parse a ZonedDateTime
it is essential that a time-zone ZoneId
is present. The time-zone can be (a) parsed from the string, or (b) specified to the formatter (using JDK 8u20):
// option a - parsed from the string
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME;
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse("2014-09-02T08:05:23.653Z", f);
// option b - specified in the formatter - REQUIRES JDK 8u20 !!!
DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT.withZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse("2014-09-02T08:05:23.653Z", f);
See documentation for ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME
, ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME
and ISO_DATE_TIME
(any of these three can be used to parse a ZonedDateTime
without specifying withZone()
).
Summary
The ISO_INSTANT
formatter is a special case formatter designed to work with Instant
. If you are using a ZonedDateTime
you should use a different formatter, such as ISO_DATE_TIME
or ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME
.
I'm not sure, but this might be a bug in Java 8. Maybe it was intended to behave in this way, but I think that the workaround I'm going to propose to you should be the default behavior (when no ZoneId is specified, just take system default):
ZonedDateTime now = ZonedDateTime.now();
DateTimeFormatter formatter = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT
.withZone(ZoneId.systemDefault());
System.out
.println(ZonedDateTime.parse(now.format(formatter), formatter));
There's a similar bug which was fixed in OpenJDK: JDK-8033662 - but it's only similar, not exactly the same.
I don't know if it is the expected behaviour or not (it probably is) but technically the ISO_INSTANT
formatter does not include a time zone. If you try with a DateTimeFormatter.ISO_ZONED_DATE_TIME
formatter instead you will get what you expect.