How to check LocalDateTime instance is local or UTC in java? - java

I have want to find whether my LocalDateTime instance holds local date&time or UTC date&time (like DateTime.Kind property in C#)
LocalDateTime date1=LocalDateTime.now(); // it is local
LocalDateTime date2=LocalDateTime.now(ZoneId.of("UTC")); // it is UTC
Anything like (date1.getKind() == Kind.UTC || date1.getKind() == Kind.Local) in Java?

The LocalDateTime object itself doesn't store the timezone information - it has only the date and time related fields: day, month and year; hour, minute, seconds and nanoseconds. But the now method uses a timezone or an offset to get the correct values for those fields.
That's because the answer to the questions "What day is today?" and "What time is it?" is not as simple as we might think.
It's common to think that the answer is as simple as taking a look at our calendar/cell phone/whatever and seeing the current date/time. But the technically correct answer is: "It depends".
It depends, basically, on where you are. At this moment, each place in the world has its own local date and time. For example, in July 5th, 2017: while it was 14h (or 2 PM) in São Paulo, it was 6 PM in London and 5 PM in UTC, but in Tokyo it was 2 AM of the next day (July 6th).
Each region in the world has specific rules to determine what's their local time during history, and of course it affects their local date.
And the concept that maps a country/city/region to these rules is a timezone.
That's why the now method needs a timezone. The ZoneId object loads all the timezone data to check what's the current date and time in that zone and adjust the day/month/year/hour/minute/second/nanosecond values accordingly. The version that receives no parameters (LocalDateTime.now()) will use the system's default timezone, so the API always uses some timezone in the end.
The timezone (or the offset, such as ZoneOffset.UTC) is used to get the correct values for day, month, year, hour, minute, second and nanosecond, and then - in the case of LocalDateTime and any other classes that don't keep the zone - discarded.
So, the concept might be a little different from what you're thinking. If I do:
// ZoneOffset.UTC is equivalent to ZoneId.of("UTC")
LocalDateTime date = LocalDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
What this code does is: "take the current date and time in UTC, and get just the date and time fields, discarding the timezone/offset information".
When I ran this code, the current date/time in UTC was 2017-09-25T12:15:43.570Z, so the LocalDateTime has the value equivalent to 2017-09-25T12:15:43.570 (without any timezone information, just the date and time fields). If I call now() without arguments, it'll use the JVM default timezone (in my case, it's America/Sao_Paulo), and the value will be 2017-09-25T09:15:43.570.
So, with a LocalDateTime you can get the values, but you can't know from which timezone those values came from, because it doesn't keep this information.
If you want a UTC date, you must use another classes, designed to keep this information:
Instant.now() - this will always get the current UTC instant
OffsetDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC) - with this you can query for date and time fields (such as getDayOfMonth() or getHour())
ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC) - for UTC, it's the same as OffsetDateTime, but if you use a different timezone, it handles all timezone specific data, such as Daylight Saving Time changes.
To check if such object is in UTC, one way is to use the getZone() method:
ZonedDateTime z = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
System.out.println(z.getZone().equals(ZoneOffset.UTC)); // true
But if you use equivalents like ZoneId.of("UTC"), the equals method return false. So you could also check if z.getZone().getId() is equals to Z or UTC. With OffsetDateTime, it's similar:
OffsetDateTime odt = OffsetDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
System.out.println(odt.getOffset().equals(ZoneOffset.UTC)); // true
With Instant you don't need to check, because it's always in UTC.
You can check all the available types in Oracle's date/time tutorial.
Both ZonedDateTime and OffsetDateTime can be converted to a LocalDateTime using the toLocalDateTime() method:
// dt will have the current date and time in UTC
LocalDateTime dt = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC).toLocalDateTime();
// or
LocalDateTime dt = OffsetDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC).toLocalDateTime();
With this, the dt variable will have all the date and time fields (day/month/year, hour/minute/second/nanosecond) that corresponds to the current date/time in UTC. But it won't keep any timezone/offset information, so the LocalDateTime object itself can't know from which timezone those values came from.

I realize this question is a bit old, but I am learning Java and found myself trying to do something very similar. After some reading I found I could do what you are asking with this:
public static void main (String args[]) {
LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now(Clock.systemDefaultZone()); // The clock argument is not really needed here.
String pattern = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss"; // Setup your format for output
DateTimeFormatter dtf = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern(pattern);
System.out.println("Local time is: " + dtf.format(now));
LocalDateTime utc = LocalDateTime.now(Clock.systemUTC()); // Define alternate timezone
System.out.println("GMT/UTC is: "+dtf.format(utc));
}

Related

Joda Time to Java Time Migration show different result while migration

Given the following code
public static void main(String[] args) {
org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter _timestampFomatNYCJoda = org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyyMMdd HHmmss.SSS").withZone(DateTimeZone.forID("America/New_York"));
DateTimeFormatter _timestampFomatNYC = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMdd HHmmss.SSS").withZone(ZoneId.of("America/New_York"));
LocalDateTime localDateTime = LocalDateTime.now();
org.joda.time.LocalDateTime jodaLocalDateTime = new org.joda.time.LocalDateTime();
System.out.println("System Time " + new Date());
System.out.println("Java Version " + localDateTime.format(_timestampFomatNYC));
System.out.println("Joda Version " + _timestampFomatNYCJoda.print(jodaLocalDateTime.toDateTime(DateTimeZone.UTC)));
}
Why does the Java Version and Joda Version dont match ? I am running this on IST clock.
Below is the output
System Time Fri Mar 27 17:01:33 IST 2020
Java Version 20200327 170133.933
Joda Version 20200327 130133.938
I can reproduce your results. I can also explain them. Joda-Time and java.time have been designed to behave differently in this case. Let’s look at them in turn.
Joda-Time
In Joda-Time DateTimeFormatter.withZone() gives you a formatter with an override zone, that is, a zone that will always be used for formatting dates and times. In other words, any date and time will be converted to this zone for printing. The documentation says:
When printing, this zone will be used in preference to the zone from
the datetime that would otherwise be used.
When you do new org.joda.time.LocalDateTime(), you are getting a LocalDateTime representing the current date and time in your default time zone. The Local in some class names means without time zone or offset from UTC. I figure that you must have got a value equal to 2020-03-27T17:01:33.938.
Apparently what happens when you format a LocalDateTime with a formatter with an override zone, is that the formatter assumes that your LocalDateTime is in UTC (which yours isn’t) and converts it from there, in your case to America/New_York time zone. Since summer time (DST) is in effect in New York, the offset is -04:00, so 17:01 becomes 13:01.
This is the wrong result. When the time is 17:01 in your time zone, it is not 17:01 UTC, so the conversion is based on a false premise. It is also not 13:01 in New York, so the converted result is telling a lie.
java.time
With java.time setting an override zone on a formatter works similarly for formatting, but with a difference that matters here: the override zone is only used when printing a date-time object that identifies an instant (a point in time). From the docs:
When formatting, if the temporal object contains an instant, then it
will be converted to a zoned date-time using the override zone.
Whether the temporal is an instant is determined by querying the
INSTANT_SECONDS field. If the input has a chronology then it will be
retained unless overridden. If the input does not have a chronology,
such as Instant, then the ISO chronology will be used.
… In all other cases, the override zone is added to the temporal,
replacing any previous zone, but without changing the date/time.
Again LocalDateTime.now() gives you the current date and time of day (a few milliseconds earlier than the query through Joda-Time), 2020-03-27T17:01:33.933. Local still means without offset or time zone.
Because your LocalDateTIme hasn’t got offset or time zone, it cannot identify an unambigous point in time, an instant. Therefore when formatting it neither the date nor the time of day is changed. And since your format pattern contains no time zone or offset, none is printed. So you just get the date and time in your time zone (not in New York), 20200327 170133.933.
To get the date and time in New York time zone
DateTimeFormatter timestampFormat
= DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMdd HHmmss.SSS");
ZonedDateTime timeInNy = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneId.of("America/New_York"));
System.out.println(timeInNy.format(timestampFormat));
When I ran this code just now, the output was:
20200327 122359.683
Documentation links
Joda-Time DateTimeFormatter.withZone()
java.time DateTimeFormatter.withZone()

Java.util.date get the actual date at client timezone

Searching up and down, right and left - don't find simple answer to this question:
I have java.util.Date instance, which get its value from mySQL.
Also I have time-zone code of the logged-in user.
I need to get the actual time at user time-zone.
For example:
My server-machine time-zone is GMT+2.
My date value in DB is: 2017-02-09 16:38:58.000
According to my server-machine-time-zone I get it into date instance as: 2017-02-09T16:38:58.000+0200
Now I need to know what to do if:
In case, for sample, my client-time-zone-code is GMT+4, I want to get:
2017-02-09 20:38:58.000
Pure date, that is right to my time zone and not contain "+4" or "GMT" indication.
In short words: convert my java.util.date to pure date that right to specific time-zone.
Sound very simple? after read very much documentaion, I already not sure that this is really simple.
Timestamp (with time zone)
As far as I have understood, the date-time in your database in UTC, but when you retrieve it, you (incorrectly) receive 2017-02-09T16:38:58.000+02:00.
First, if you can, change the datatype of your MySQL database column to timestamp (in some other databases it would be called timestamp with time zone). This will make sure that MySQL knows that the times are in UTC and should enable you to retrieve them as the right point in time rather than the right time of day in the wrong time zone. This in turn will give you the best starting point for converting to the client time zone.
java.time
Second, retrieve your value into an appropriate type from java.time, the modern Java date and time API. Avoid java.util.Date since it is poorly designed and cannot handle different time zones. For example, if your database datatype is datetime:
LocalDateTime dateTime = yourResultSet.getObject("your_col", LocalDateTime.class);
LocalDateTime is a date and time of day without time zone, so you cannot get the wrong time zone. Supply the offset that you know is right:
OffsetDateTime odt = dateTime.atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC);
Convert to client time zone:
ZoneId clientTimeZone = ZoneId.of("Indian/Reunion");
ZonedDateTime clientDateTime = odt.atZoneSameInstant(clientTimeZone);
System.out.println(clientDateTime);
2017-02-09T20:38:58+04:00[Indian/Reunion]
Do yourself the favour of using a real time zone in the region/city format rather than an offset like +04:00. It’s easier to understand and more future-proof. Indian/Reunion is just an example, of course, use the correct one for your client.
The ZonedDateTime above has both offset and time zone in it. It’s recommended to keep it that way, and I don’t see it doing any harm. The client can always opt not to display it. If you still insist, convert to LocalDateTime again:
LocalDateTime clientDateTimeWithoutOffset = clientDateTime.toLocalDateTime();
System.out.println(clientDateTimeWithoutOffset);
2017-02-09T20:38:58
If the database datatype is timestamp:
OffsetDateTime odt = yourResultSet.getObject("your_col", OffsetDateTime.class);
This saves the first step above. The remainder is the same.
Link
Oracle tutorial: Date Time explaining how to use java.time.
java.util.Date does not store any time zone. It just stores the number of milliseconds since the 'epoch', which is 1 January 1970, 00:00:00 UTC.
Thus, all you have to do is to know the time zone of your server machine, find the period between this time zone and the time zone you want to convert it to and add or subtract the period.
UPDATE:
int clientGMT = 4; //GMT you want to convert to
int serverGMT = 2; //server's GMT
int delta = clientGMT - serverGMT; //delta between the dates
//assume this is the date in GMT + 2 received from the server
Date d1 = new SimpleDateFormat("dd.MM.yyyy hh:mm:ss").parse("12.03.2019 13:00:00");
//... and you want to convert it to GMT + 4 (client side's time zone)
Date resultDate = new Date(d1.getTime() + delta * 3600000);
P.S. Yes, you have to manipulate time zones manually, as I said above, java.util.Date does not store this information (each date is assumed to be in UTC).

How to convert UTC date to UTC OffsetDateTime in java 8?

How can I convert the date object which is already in UTC to an OffsetDateTime Object in UTC itself in Java? This logic should be written on a microservice where the timezone can be entirely different. So .now() and other things are ruled out, I guess. Also, I don't want to pass Timezone as params anywhere.
Sample code:
public OffsetDateTime convertFrom(Date source) {
LOGGER.info("source: " + source.toString());
LOGGER.info("instant: " + source.toInstant().toString());
LOGGER.info("response: " + source.toInstant().atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC).toString());
return source.toInstant().atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC);
}
and the output I get is:
source: 2018-07-11 15:45:13.0
instant: 2018-07-11T19:45:13Z
response: 2018-07-11T19:45:13Z
I want my output return to be 2018-07-11 15:45:13Z for input 2018-07-11 15:45:13.0
tl;dr
A java.util.Date and a Instant both represent a moment in UTC. Other time zones and offsets are irrelevant.
Instant instant = myJavaUtilDate.toInstant()
How can I convert the date object which is already in UTC to an OffsetDateTime Object in UTC itself in Java?
You don’t need OffsetDateTime. Use Instant as shown above.
Use ZonedDateTime, not OffsetDateTime
You do not need OffsetDateTime. An offset-from-UTC is merely a number of hours and minutes. Nothing more, nothing less. In contrast, a time zone is a history of the past, present, and future changes to the offset used by the people of a particular region. So a time zone, if known, is always preferable to a mere offset. So use ZonedDateTime rather than OffsetDateTime wherever possible.
Use OffsetDateTime only when given an offset-from-UTC, such as +02:00, without the context of a specific time zone, such as Europe/Paris.
Convert Date to Instant
If given a java.util.Date, concert to the modern class (Instant) that replaced that troublesome old class. Both represent a moment in UTC as a count from the same epoch reference of first moment of 1970 in UTC. The modern class resolves to nanoseconds rather than milliseconds. To convert, call new methods added to the old class.
Instant instant = myJavaUtilDate.toInstant() ;
Remember that both java.util.Date and Instant always represent a moment in UTC.
Capture current moment, “now”
Capture the current moment in UTC.
Instant instant = Instant.now() ;
now() and other things are ruled out, I guess.
No, you can always capture the current moment by calling Instant.now() on any machine at any time. The JVM’s current default time zone is irrelevant as Instant is always in UTC.
Adjust from UTC into another time zone. Same moment, same point on the timeline, different wall-clock time. <— That is the most important concept to comprehend in this discussion!
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "Africa/Tunis" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = instant.atZone() ;
As a shortcut, you can skip the Instant when capturing current moment.
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.now( z ) ;
Move back to UTC by extracting a Instant object.
Instant instant = zdt.toInstant() ;
Tip: Focus on UTC
Usually best to have most of your work in UTC. When storing, logging, debugging, or exchanging moments, use UTC. Forget about your own parochial time zone while on the job as a programmer or sysadmin; learn to think in UTC. Keep a second click in your office set to UTC.
Avoid flipping between time zones all the time. Stick with UTC. Adjust to a time zone only when presenting to the user or when business logic demands.
It is already working as intended, the problem is that Date.toString is "helpfully" converting the internal timestamp to your local timezone. Using Date.toGMTString would result in the exact same timestamp for each of the values.
If the resulting timestamp is wrong then the problem lies in the creation of the Date instance. Using the constructor like new Date(2018, 7, 11, 15, 45, 11) would result in that date being calculated for the system timezone, not UTC. To create it for UTC there is Date.UTC but all these APIs have been deprecated since Java 1.1 because they are so confusing.
public static OffsetDateTime convertFrom(Date source) {
if (source instanceof Timestamp) {
return ((Timestamp) source).toLocalDateTime()
.atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC);
}
return source.toInstant().atOffset(ZoneOffset.UTC);
}
The object that was passed to your method was a java.sql.Timestamp, not a Date. We can see this fact from the way it was printed: 2018-07-11 15:45:13.0 is the return value from Timestamp.toString(). The Timestamp class is implemented as a subclass of Date, but this doesn’t mean that we can nor should handle it as a Date. The documentation warns us:
Due to the differences between the Timestamp class and the
java.util.Date class mentioned above, it is recommended that code
not view Timestamp values generically as an instance of
java.util.Date. The inheritance relationship between Timestamp and
java.util.Date really denotes implementation inheritance, and not
type inheritance.
In the implementation above I have assumed that you cannot mitigate the possibility of getting a Timestamp argument, so I am handling the possibility the best I can. The code is still fragile, though, because sometimes a Timestamp denotes a point in time (I should say that this is the point), at other times it denotes a date and hour of day. Granted that the Timestamp does not hold a time zone in it, the two are not the same. I understand that your sample Timestamp denotes a date and time of 2018-07-11 15:45:13.0, and you want this interpreted in UTC. My code does that (your code in the question, on the other hand, correctly handles the situation where the Timestamp denotes a point in time). Also, even though no time zone is passed in my code, its behaviour still depends on the time zone setting of your JVM.
When I pass a Timestamp of 2018-07-11 15:45:13.0 to my method above, it returns an OffsetDateTime of 2018-07-11T15:45:13Z.
The double nature of Timestamp is unfortunate and confusing, and the only real solution would be if you could avoid that class completely. The Date class too is poorly designed, and both are outdated and replaced by java.time, the modern Java date and time API. If you cannot avoid the old classes in your code, I certainly understand your desire to convert to the modern OffsetDateTime first thing. If on the other hand I understand correctly that the date and time comes through JSON, you may be able to parse it on your side without any of the old date and time classes, which would be a good solution to your problem. And under all circumstances, if your real goal is to represent the point in time in a time zone neutral way, I agree with Basil Bourque in preferring an Instant over an OffsetDateTime in UTC.
Link: Documentation of java.sql.Timestamp

How to keep original timezone with JodaTime

I have date in String format I need to parse. The format is as following with timezone from all over the world :
String stringDate = "2016-04-29 12:16:49.222+04:30";
String pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSSZ";
It seems that java.util.Date doesn't accept timezone with : separator. So I'm trying with Jodatime library :
DateTime formattedDate = DateTimeFormat.forPattern(pattern).parseDateTime(stringDate);
LocalDateTime formattedDate2 = DateTimeFormat.forPattern(pattern).parseLocalDateTime(stringDate);
MutableDateTime formattedDate3 = DateTimeFormat.forPattern(pattern).parseMutableDateTime(stringDate);
System.out.println(formattedDate);
System.out.println(formattedDate2);
System.out.println(formattedDate3);
These lines output :
2016-04-29T09:46:49.222+02:00
2016-04-29T12:16:49.222
2016-04-29T09:46:49.222+02:00
As far as I understand the formatter modify output timezone to comply on mine (I'm in Paris, UTC+2), but I want the output keep its original timezone. Is it possible to do it with Jodatime library? Or should I change for another?
Edit :
Actually I need to get a Date object on which the timezone offset would be 270 (the timezone offset of the stringDate : 4 hour and 30 minutes) in place of 120 (my local timezone offset):
System.out.println(formattedDate.toDate().getTimezoneOffset()); // I expect 270 but I get 120
What you missed is DateTimeFormatter#withOffsetParsed:
Returns a new formatter that will create a datetime with a time zone equal to that of the offset of the parsed string.
Otherwise the formatter will parse it into your local time zone (surprising, I know).
#Test
public void preserveTimeZone() {
String stringDate = "2016-04-29 12:16:49.222+04:30";
String pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSSZ";
DateTime dt = DateTimeFormat.forPattern(pattern).withOffsetParsed().parseDateTime(stringDate);
System.out.println(dt); // prints "2016-04-29T12:16:49.222+04:30"
}
As for your edit - java.util.Date does not hold time zone information and the deprecated getTimezoneOffset() method only
Returns the offset, measured in minutes, for the local time zone relative to UTC that is appropriate for the time represented by this Date object.
So you'd better use Joda Time or java.time classes to handle time zones properly.
When I run the same code that you have posted, I end up with
2016-04-29T02:46:49.222-05:00
2016-04-29T12:16:49.222
2016-04-29T02:46:49.222-05:00
which if you will notice, has different hour values AND time-zone values. However, if you look at their millis:
System.out.println(formattedDate.getMillis());
System.out.println(formattedDate2.toDateTime().getMillis());
System.out.println(formattedDate3.getMillis());
you'll see the output
1461916009222
1461950209222
1461916009222
So they have the same epoch time, but are printed out differently. This is due to the mechanism of toString() on DateTime objects, and how they are to be interpreted.
DateTime and LocalDateTime(MutableDateTime is just a mutable version of DateTime) deal with the same epoch time in different ways. LocalDateTime will always assume that epoch time is UTC time(per the javadoc for LocalDateTime), while DateTime will assume that epoch is represented in the time zone of the Chronology which it holds(per the javadoc again). If the TimeZone is not specified at construction time, then the Chronology will assume that you want the timezone of your default Locale, which is set by the JVM. In your case, the default Locale is Paris France, while mine is St. Louis USA. Paris currently holds a +2:00 time zone offset, while St. Louis has -5:00, leading to the different time zone representations when we print it.
To get even more annoying, those offsets can change over time. If I come back in 6 months and try to answer this again, my values will show -6:00 (stupid Daylight savings time!)
The important thing to remember is that these two dates have the same epoch time: we are talking about the same instant in time, we are just representing that time differently when we print it out.
If you want to use a different time zone for representing the output of the parse result, then you can set the DateTimeZone during formatting using DateTimeFormat.withZone() or DateTimeFormat.withLocale:
DateTimeFormatter sdf = DateTimeFormat.forPattern(pattern).withZone(DateTimeZone.forOffsetHoursMinutes(4,30));
System.out.println(formattedDate.getMillis());
System.out.println(formattedDate2.toDateTime().getMillis());
System.out.println(formattedDate3.getMillis());
which will print
2016-04-29 12:16:49.222+0430
2016-04-29 12:16:49.222
2016-04-29 12:16:49.222+0430
notice that the LocalDateTime version still prints out without the TimeZone. That's kind of the feature of LocalDateTime: it is represented without having to deal with all this business.
So that is why your printing values look weird. To further your question about getting a java.util.Date object from the parsed DateTime object: toDate will give you a java.util.Date which represents the same epoch time. However, java.util.Date behaves similarly to DateTime, in that unless otherwise stated, it will use the TimeZone of the default Locale. If you know the Locale ahead of time, then you can use the toDate(Locale) method to ensure you use that Locale's TimeZone offset.
It gets a lot harder if you don't know the TimeZone ahead of time; in the past, I've had to hand-parse the TimeZone hour and minute offsets to determine the proper TimeZone to use. In this exact case that's not too difficult, since the last 6 characters are extremely well-formed and regular(unless, of course, they aren't :)).

Convert LocalTime (Java 8) to Date

I'm trying to convert a java.time.LocalTime object to java.util.Date but can't find any suitable method. What's the correct way to do this?
Is there any reason why java doesn't seem to ship with a built-in direct conversion method?
To possible duplicates:
How to convert joda time - Doesn't work for me, probably I'm missing some "joda" libraries?
How to convert Date to LocalTime? - This adresses conversion the other way around.
LocalTime actually can't be converted to a Date, because it only contains the time part of DateTime. Like 11:00. But no day is known. You have to supply it manually:
LocalTime lt = ...;
Instant instant = lt.atDate(LocalDate.of(A_YEAR, A_MONTH, A_DAY)).
atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toInstant();
Date time = Date.from(instant);
Here's a blog post which explains all the conversions between the new and the old API.
There's no simple built-in conversion method, because these APIs approach the idea of date and time in completely different way.
LocalTime lt = ...;
Instant instant = lt.atDate(LocalDate.of(A_YEAR, A_MONTH, A_DAY)).
atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toInstant();
Date time = Date.from(instant);
From :
http://blog.progs.be/542/date-to-java-time
I added the data (hour, minute, second) one by one (from localtime to date):
reta.setHours(vol.getRetard().getHour());
reta.setMinutes(vol.getRetard().getMinute());
reta.setSeconds(vol.getRetard().getSecond());
Note :
reta: Date veriabble ;
vol.getRetard (): localtime variable
As others have said, it’s a problematic question in that a LocalTime and a Date really represent quite different and almost unrelated concepts. A LocalTime is a time of day without time zone, such as 19:45 (or 7:45 PM). A Date is a point on the time line; if it happens to coincide with 19:45 on some date in some time zone, it will not in other time zones.
I believe that the conventional way of misusing (indeed) a Date for an hour of day is setting it to that time of day on January 1, 1970 in the default time zone of the JVM. This practice carries all of the liabilities already mentioned. In particular the JVM default time zone setting can be changed at any time from another part of your program or any other program running in the same JVM. This means that a completely unrelated program may suddenly cause your Date to indicate a different time of day than the one you had initialized it to.
There’s nothing better we can do, so here goes:
LocalTime time = LocalTime.of(11, 0);
Instant timeOnEpochDayInDefaultTimeZone = LocalDate.EPOCH
.atTime(time)
.atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
.toInstant();
Date oldfashionedDateObject = Date.from(timeOnEpochDayInDefaultTimeZone);
System.out.println(oldfashionedDateObject);
In my time zone output from this snippet is:
Thu Jan 01 11:00:00 CET 1970
Here is another approach:
We can add a LocalDate to the LocalTime in order to make it a LocalDateTime and then convert it to Date using the valueOf method of java.sql.Timestamp like this:
LocalTime localTime = LocalTime.now();
Date date = java.sql.Timestamp.valueOf(localTime.atDate(LocalDate.now()));
As #Dariusz said, we cannot convert LocalTime to Date directly as it contains only time part but Date must contain all the value along with the timeZone.
In order to get the date part, we can use LocalDate.now(). It will give us LocalDate object with today's date.
Now, we have both LocalDate and LocalTime, we can now use the LocalDateTime.of(date: LocalDate, time: LocalTime) or localTime.atDate(date: LocalDate) to get the LocalDateTime object.
And now we can convert the LocalDateTime to Date using below kotlin extension function.
fun LocalDateTime.toDate(): Date {
return Date.from(this.atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toInstant())
}

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