org.apache.velocity.tools.generic.DateTool.toDate(...) used in templates doesn't work as expected

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Inactive
• Affects Version/s: 6.0.5 GA, 6.0.6 GA
• Fix Version/s: None
• Component/s: WCM, WCM > Asset Publisher, WCM > Web Content Administration
• Labels: None
• Similar Issues: Show 5 results ; ;

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Hi, I have used following Velocity template in Liferay 5.1.2 and it prints expected results (returns Date) bud if I try the same in 6.0.5 many of them (with BAD) returns null.
I'm really not sure what's going on...

1. 1. Velocity template BEGIN
      $dateTool.toDate("EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , " 2010 10:53:00 +0200") OK<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("hh:mm:ss Z" , "10:53:00 +0200") OK<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "05 11 2010 10:53:00 +0200") OK<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("EEE dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Fri 05 11 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD<br/>
      $dateTool.toDate("EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss" , "Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00") BAD<br/>
   2. Velocity template END

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
Thank you for your report. I'd like to try to verify the steps to reproduce this ticket but I need your help. Have you had the opportunity to discuss this issue on the community forums? If so, were there other users who were also experiencing this problem? Thanks!

[Milan Jaroš]

See:
https://www.liferay.com/en/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/6319696
http://www.liferay.com/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/2760182
http://www.liferay.com/en/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/6281586
http://www.liferay.com/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/175331
http://www.liferay.com/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/6858115

Best,
Milan

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
I'm not exactly knowledgeable in velocity, but I found a post by Amos which had the following logic:
$dateTool.toDate("yyyy.MM.dd", "2010.01.01")
<br>
$dateTool.format("yyyy.MM.dd", $dateUtil.newDate())

That returned the following values in 6.0.5 GA:
Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 GMT 2010
2011.02.02

Is there something that you're trying to do thats different than this? Could you please give details on what you're trying to do so I can narrow down my test?

Thanks!

[Milan Jaroš]

Well, as you can see I was just trying to test what is wrong because I had problems with toDate() function.

My skills in velocity are poor but IMHO Amos's example is another case.

Note that all lines prints expected results in Liferay 5.1.2. Did you try that?

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
I tried copy and pasting your example in both branches and I received the same results. Please ensure you have a fresh environment with no other issues that may interfere with the bug. If I cannot reproduce this issue, it cannot be fixed. Thanks!
=============================================================
The following are my results from 5.1.2

Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Wed Sep 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Thu Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 1970 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 10:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
=============================================================
These are my results from 6.0.5

Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Wed Sep 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Thu Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 1970 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 10:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD

=============================================================

[Milan Jaroš]

Have you already tried another locale (e.g. es_ES, pt_BR, cs_CZ) as it is mentioned in forums?

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
Could you please explain to me what you're trying to accomplish? We have another class to use instead of $dateTool called $dateUtil have you looked into that? I need to understand what you're trying to accomplish so I can verify if there is a bug.
Thanks

[Milan Jaroš]

Hi,
thank you for your attention and your interest.
=============================================================
The following are my results from 5.1.2

Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Wed Sep 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Thu Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 1970 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
Fri Sep 24 10:53:00 GMT 2010 BAD
=============================================================
These are my results from 6.0.5

$dateTool.toDate("EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD
$dateTool.toDate("dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD
$dateTool.toDate("MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD
Fri Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
Thu Jan 01 08:53:00 GMT 1970 OK
Fri Nov 05 08:53:00 GMT 2010 OK
$dateTool.toDate("EEE dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z" , "Fri 05 11 2010 10:53:00 +0200") BAD
$dateTool.toDate("EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss" , "Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00") BAD
=============================================================

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
I still need more details on what exactly it is you're trying to do. I pasted the aforementioned text in my template and the results printed the data accordingly. I need to know how to reproduce the issue on a clean 6.0.5GA environment. If I cannot verify a bug, I cannot submit this for a fix.

Thanks

[Milan Jaroš]

Hi, it doesn't matter what I was trying to do. I reported it because this strange behaviour was torturing me few months ago. As you can see I have BAD results - it is because it returns null. I am able to reproduce this issue simply with Liferay tomcat bundle.
1) Extract liferay-portal-tomcat-6.0-5.zip
2) Start by startup.bat
3) Create article with new template (see ahead).

==>Have you already tried to change locale? <==

Thank you.

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
I've tried changing my locale and the output generates exactly as I posted before. This is why I was asking what you were trying to achieve so I understand the situation better.
Thanks

[Milan Jaroš]

Okay. Sorry, maybe I should express it closely.
You should change locale of java - i.e. add parameter " -Duser.language=cs" to launcher or to CATALINA_OPTS.

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
I am investigating if this issue is with Liferay or if it has to do with velocity and changing the locale. Thanks!

[Milan Jaroš]

May I help you?

[Kristoffer Onias]

I'm currently in relay with one of our velocity experts. Can you confirm if this is an issue with velocity? Does velocity support those variables in that locale?
Thanks!

[Raymond Auge]

The bug appears to be in DateTool which is part of the velocity-tools.jar library.

When using Liferay's own date parsing utils everything works fine:

Template:
#################################################
#set ($portalBeanLocator = $portal.getClass().forName('com.liferay.portal.kernel.bean.PortalBeanLocatorUtil'))
#set ($dateFormatFactory = $portalBeanLocator.locate('com.liferay.portal.kernel.util.DateFormatFactoryUtil'))

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('24 Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('Sep 2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('05 11 2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('EEE dd MM yyyy hh:mm:ss Z'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('Fri 05 11 2010 10:53:00 +0200'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>

#set ($indexFormat = $dateFormatFactory.getSimpleDateFormat('EEE, dd MMM yyyy hh:mm:ss'))
#set ($date = $indexFormat.parse('Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00'))
$indexFormat.format($date)<br/>
#################################################

Result:
#################################################
Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:53:00 -0400
24 Sep 2010 04:53:00 -0400
Sep 2010 04:53:00 -0400
2010 03:53:00 -0500
03:53:00 -0500
05 11 2010 04:53:00 -0400
Fri 05 11 2010 04:53:00 -0400
Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:53:00
#################################################

[Cynthia Wilburn]

Updating affected version from 6.0.5 to 6.0.6. Key issues that were closed in 6.0.6 are in the 6.0.6 release notes.

[Kristoffer Onias]

Hello Milan,
This issue has been inactive for quite some time. If you still experience any issues please open another ticket.

Thanks!

[Milan Jaroš]

Hello,
OK. I hope it is resolved by usage of Liferay's own date utils.

Kind regards,
Milan