how to get date object from a JSONObject

Question

My JSON object looks like

{"iso":"2014-01-01T21:13:00.000Z","__type":"Date"}

I need to get the date from it as a date Object. What I have tried-

String dateStr = JsonObject.getString("iso"); //output is 2014-01-01T21:13:00.000Z
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
Date birthDate = sdf.parse(dateStr);

but this doesnt work, firstly it prompts me to add a try/catch which I do. When the debugger comes to Date birthDate = sdf.parse(dateStr); it just skips this.

How do I get a date out of my JSON object?

Answer 1

Use a date format like this:

SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSX");

to match the input string format.

For details, consult the documentation.

For example this

public static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
    String dateStr = "2014-01-01T21:13:00.000Z";
    SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSX");
    Date birthDate = sdf.parse(dateStr);
    System.out.println(birthDate);
}

prints (actual output depends on your time zone)

Wed Jan 01 22:13:00 CET 2014