SimpleDateFormat not producing month name in KitKat

Question

In KitKat, the following date formatter produces the wrong result. Is it me or KitKat?

For all versions except KitKat, the following code produces the expected “April 27”. However, on KitKat, it logs “A 27”. I checked in the debugger to verify that it was not a layout issue - the String created by the SimpleDataFormat is “A 27”.

SimpleDateFormat dateOnyFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
            "MMMMM dd", Locale.US);

    Date startDate = new Date();

    String startTimeFormatted = dateOnyFormat.format(startDate);

    Log.i("DateTest","startTimeFormatted: "+startTimeFormatted);

Does anyone know why KitKat formatting is producing the first letter of the month, rather than the month?

Any solution?

Here is the default Android project main from ADT with this code inserted.

package com.example;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Locale;

import com.example.util.SystemUiHider;

import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Handler;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.MotionEvent;
import android.view.View;

/**
 * An example full-screen activity that shows and hides the system UI (i.e. status bar and navigation/system bar) with
 * user interaction.
 * 
 * @see SystemUiHider
 */
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
/**
 * Whether or not the system UI should be auto-hidden after {@link #AUTO_HIDE_DELAY_MILLIS} milliseconds.
 */
private static final boolean AUTO_HIDE = true;

/**
 * If {@link #AUTO_HIDE} is set, the number of milliseconds to wait after user interaction before hiding the system
 * UI.
 */
private static final int AUTO_HIDE_DELAY_MILLIS = 3000;

/**
 * If set, will toggle the system UI visibility upon interaction. Otherwise, will show the system UI visibility upon
 * interaction.
 */
private static final boolean TOGGLE_ON_CLICK = true;

/**
 * The flags to pass to {@link SystemUiHider#getInstance}.
 */
private static final int HIDER_FLAGS = SystemUiHider.FLAG_HIDE_NAVIGATION;

/**
 * The instance of the {@link SystemUiHider} for this activity.
 */
private SystemUiHider mSystemUiHider;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    final View controlsView = findViewById(R.id.fullscreen_content_controls);
    final View contentView = findViewById(R.id.fullscreen_content);

     SimpleDateFormat dateOnyFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(
            "MMMMM dd", Locale.US);

    Date startDate = new Date();

    String startTimeFormatted = dateOnyFormat.format(startDate);

    Log.i("DateTest","startTimeFormatted: "+startTimeFormatted);

    // Set up an instance of SystemUiHider to control the system UI for
    // this activity.
    mSystemUiHider = SystemUiHider.getInstance(this, contentView, HIDER_FLAGS);
    mSystemUiHider.setup();
    mSystemUiHider.setOnVisibilityChangeListener(new SystemUiHider.OnVisibilityChangeListener() {
        // Cached values.
        int mControlsHeight;
        int mShortAnimTime;

        @Override
        @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR2)
        public void onVisibilityChange(boolean visible) {
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB_MR2) {
                // If the ViewPropertyAnimator API is available
                // (Honeycomb MR2 and later), use it to animate the
                // in-layout UI controls at the bottom of the
                // screen.
                if (mControlsHeight == 0) {
                    mControlsHeight = controlsView.getHeight();
                }
                if (mShortAnimTime == 0) {
                    mShortAnimTime = getResources().getInteger(android.R.integer.config_shortAnimTime);
                }
                controlsView.animate().translationY(visible ? 0 : mControlsHeight).setDuration(mShortAnimTime);
            } else {
                // If the ViewPropertyAnimator APIs aren't
                // available, simply show or hide the in-layout UI
                // controls.
                controlsView.setVisibility(visible ? View.VISIBLE : View.GONE);
            }

            if (visible && AUTO_HIDE) {
                // Schedule a hide().
                delayedHide(AUTO_HIDE_DELAY_MILLIS);
            }
        }
    });

    // Set up the user interaction to manually show or hide the system UI.
    contentView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            if (TOGGLE_ON_CLICK) {
                mSystemUiHider.toggle();
            } else {
                mSystemUiHider.show();
            }
        }
    });

    // Upon interacting with UI controls, delay any scheduled hide()
    // operations to prevent the jarring behavior of controls going away
    // while interacting with the UI.
    findViewById(R.id.dummy_button).setOnTouchListener(mDelayHideTouchListener);
}

@Override
protected void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);

    // Trigger the initial hide() shortly after the activity has been
    // created, to briefly hint to the user that UI controls
    // are available.
    delayedHide(100);
}

/**
 * Touch listener to use for in-layout UI controls to delay hiding the system UI. This is to prevent the jarring
 * behavior of controls going away while interacting with activity UI.
 */
View.OnTouchListener mDelayHideTouchListener = new View.OnTouchListener() {
    @Override
    public boolean onTouch(View view, MotionEvent motionEvent) {
        if (AUTO_HIDE) {
            delayedHide(AUTO_HIDE_DELAY_MILLIS);
        }
        return false;
    }
};

Handler mHideHandler = new Handler();
Runnable mHideRunnable = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        mSystemUiHider.hide();
    }
};

/**
 * Schedules a call to hide() in [delay] milliseconds, canceling any previously scheduled calls.
 */
private void delayedHide(int delayMillis) {
    mHideHandler.removeCallbacks(mHideRunnable);
    mHideHandler.postDelayed(mHideRunnable, delayMillis);
}
 }

Answer 1

Because that is how it is documented to behave. Use MMMM (four M's) for the full month name.