How can I set the format for a Date in a text field with Spring MVC?
I'm using the Spring Form tag library and the input tag.
What I get now is something like this Mon May 28 11:09:28 CEST 2012.
I'd like to show the date in dd/MM/yyyy format.
register a date editor in yr controller :
@InitBinder
protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
binder.registerCustomEditor(LocalDate.class, new LocalDateEditor());
}
and then the data editor itself can look like this :
public class LocalDateEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport{
@Override
public void setAsText(String text) throws IllegalArgumentException{
setValue(Joda.getLocalDateFromddMMMyyyy(text));
}
@Override
public String getAsText() throws IllegalArgumentException {
return Joda.getStringFromLocalDate((LocalDate) getValue());
}
}
I am using my own abstract utility class (Joda) for parsing dates, in fact LocalDates from Joda Datetime library - recommended as the standard java date/calendar is an abomination, imho. But you should get the idea. Also, you can register a global editor, so you don't have to do it each controller (I can't remember how).
Done! I just added this method to my controller class:
@InitBinder
protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy");
binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new CustomDateEditor(
dateFormat, false));
}
If you want to format all your dates without having to repeat the same code in every Controller, you can create a global InitBinder in a class annotated with @ControllerAdvice annotation.
1. Create a DateEditor class that will format your dates, like this:
public class DateEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
public void setAsText(String value) {
try {
setValue(new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy").parse(value));
} catch(ParseException e) {
setValue(null);
}
}
public String getAsText() {
String s = "";
if (getValue() != null) {
s = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yyyy").format((Date) getValue());
}
return s;
}
2. Create a class annotated with @ControllerAdvice (I called it GlobalBindingInitializer):
@ControllerAdvice
public class GlobalBindingInitializer {
/* Initialize a global InitBinder for dates instead of cloning its code in every Controller */
@InitBinder
public void binder(WebDataBinder binder) {
binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new DateEditor());
}
}
3. In your Spring MVC configuration file (for example webmvc-config.xml) add the lines that allow Spring to scan the package in which you created your GlobalBindingInitializer class. For example, if you created GlobalBindingInitializer in the org.example.common package:
<context:component-scan base-package="org.example.common" />
Finished!
Sources:
