I would like to send a Java Calendar object over a web service (soap). I notice that this kind of object is too complex and there should be a better method to send the same information.
What are the basic attributes that should be sended over the web service, so the client can create a Java Calendar out of this attributes?
I'm guessing: TimeZone, Date, and Time?
Also, how can the client recreate the Calendar based on those attributes?
Thanks!
In fact I would go for Timezone tz (timezone the calendar was expressed in), Locale loc (used for data representation purpose) and long time (UTC time) if you want exactly the same object.
In most uses the time is enough though, the receiver will express it with his own timezone and locale.
I suppose the Calendar instance that you would like to send is of type java.util.GregorianCalendar. In that case, you could just use xsd:dateTime. For SOAP, Java will usually bind that to a javax.xml.datatype.XMLGregorianCalendar instance.
Translating between GregorianCalendarand XMLGregorianCalendar:
GregorianCalendar -> XMLGregorianCalendar: javax.xml.datatype.DatatypeFactory.newXMLGregorianCalendar(GregorianCalendar)
XMLGregorianCalendar -> GregorianCalendar: XMLGregorianCalendar.toGregorianCalendar()
The easiest way is to use a long value.
java.util.Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis()
This returns the long value for the date. That value can be used to construct java.util.Date or a Calendar.
tl;dr
Use plain text, in UTC, in standard ISO 8601 format.
Instant.now().toString()
2018-01-23T01:23:45.123456Z
Instant.parse( "2018-01-23T01:23:45.123456Z" )
ISO 8601
The ISO 8601 standard is a well-designed practical set of textual formats for representing date-time values.
2018-01-14T03:57:05.744850Z
The java.time classes use these standard formats by default when parsing/generating strings. The ZonedDateTime class wisely extends the standard to append the name of a time zone in square brackets.
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "America/Los_Angeles" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.now( z ) ;
String output = zdt.toString() ;
2018-01-13T19:56:26.318984-08:00[America/Los_Angeles]
java.time
The java.util.Calendar class is part of the troublesome old date-time classes bundled with the earliest versions of Java. These legacy classes are an awful mess, and should be avoided.
Now supplanted by the modern industry-leading java.time classes.
UTC
Generally best to communicate a moment using UTC rather than a particular time zone.
The standard format for a UTC moment is YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSSSSSSSZ where the T separates the year-month-day from the hour-minute-second. The Z on the end is short for Zulu and means UTC.
Instant
The Instant class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds (up to nine (9) digits of a decimal fraction).
Instant instant = Instant.now() ;
String output = instant.toString() ;
2018-01-14T03:57:05.744850Z
If a particular time zone is crucial, use a ZonedDateTime as shown above.
Parsing
These strings in standard format can be parsed to instantiate java.time objects.
Instant instant = Instant.parse( "2018-01-14T03:57:05.744850Z" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse( "2018-01-13T19:56:26.318984-08:00[America/Los_Angeles]" ) ;
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time (JSR 310) classes.
For earlier Android, the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
Related
I'm trying to get a date from a DataObject (Service Date Object (SDO)) that comes to me as an input and insert it into an Oracle database. The problem has been that the Date I get does not seem to have the introduced hour.
I am using the setDate() method from DataObject with the following value: 2019-05-22T13:30:00Z.
For some reason, when using getDate() what is returning is the day entered with the hour set at 0 (2019-05-22 00:00:00).
I'm not sure if it's due to the input format or something related to the Date class from java.utils.
An easy solution would be to pass it as String and convert it into Date using a format but I would like to save this intermediate step.
java.util.Date versus java.sql.Date
Your Question does not provide enough detail to know for sure, but I can take an educated guess.
returning is the day entered with the hour set at 0 (2019-05-22 00:00:00).
I suspect your code calling setDate and/or getDate is using a java.sql.Date object rather than a java.util.Date object.
➥ Check your import statements. If you used the wrong class by accident, that would explain the time-of-day getting set to 00:00.
java.util.Date represents a moment in UTC (a date, a time-of-day, and an offset-from-UTC of zero hours-minutes-seconds).
java.sql.Date pretends to represent a date-only, without a time-of-day and without a time zone or offset-from-UTC. Actually does contain a time-of-day and offset, but tries to adjust the time to 00:00:00.0 as part of the pretense.
Confusing? Yes. These old date-time classes from the earliest days of Java are a bloody awful mess, built by people who did not understand the complexities of date-time handling. Avoid these legacy date-time classes!
These legacy classes were supplanted years ago by the modern java.time classes defined in JSR 310. Try to do all your work in java.time. When interoperating with old code such as SDO that is not yet updated for java.time, call on new conversion methods added to the old classes.
The modern replacement of a java.util.Date is java.time.Instant. Both represents a moment in UTC, though Instant has a finer resolution of nanoseconds versus milliseconds.
Instant instant = Instant.now() ; // Capture the current moment in UTC.
Convert from modern class to legacy class. Beware of data-loss: Any microseconds or nanoseconds in the fractional second are truncated to milliseconds (as noted above).
java.util.Date d = java.util.Date.from( instant ) ; // Convert from modern to legacy. Truncates any microseconds or nanoseconds.
Pass to your SDO object.
mySdoDataObject.setDate( d ) ;
Going the other direction, retrieve the legacy java.util.Date object and immediately convert to an Instant.
Instant instant = mySdoDataObject.getDate().toInstant() ;
To see that same moment through the wall-clock time used by the people of a particular region (a time zone), apply a ZoneId to get a ZonedDateTime object.
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "America/Montreal" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = instant.atZone( z ) ; // Same moment, same point on the timeline, different wall-clock time.
An easy solution would be to pass it as String
No! Use smart objects, not dumb strings. We have the industry-leading date-time library built into Java, so use it.
Database
As of JDBC 4.2, we can directly exchange java.time objects with the database.
Your JDBC driver may optionally handle Instant. If not, convert to OffsetDateTime.
OffsetDateTime odt = instant.atOffset( ZoneOffset.UTC ) ;
myPreparedStatement.setObject( … , odt ) ;
Retrieval.
OffsetDateTime odt = myResultSet.getObject( … , OffsetDateTime.class ) ;
Instant instant = odt.toInstant() ;
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, Java SE 11, and later - Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Most of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
When I try to convert a ZonedDateTime to a Timestamp everything is fine until I call Timestamp.from() in the following code:
ZonedDateTime currentTimeUTC = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
currentTimeUTC = currentTimeUTC.minusSeconds(currentTimeUTC.getSecond());
currentTimeUTC = currentTimeUTC.minusNanos(currentTimeUTC.getNano());
return Timestamp.from(currentTimeUTC.toInstant());
ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC); -> 2018-04-26T12:31Z
currentTimeUTC.toInstant() -> 2018-04-26T12:31:00Z
Timestamp.from(currentTimeUTC.toInstant()) -> 2018-04-26 14:31:00.0
// (with Timezone of Europe/Berlin, which is currently +2)
Why is Timestamp.from() not heeding the timezone set in the instant?
The Instant class doesn't have a timezone, it just has the values of seconds and nanoseconds since unix epoch. A Timestamp also represents that (a count from epoch).
why is the debugger displaying this with a Z behind it?
The problem is in the toString methods:
Instant.toString() converts the seconds and nanoseconds values to the corresponding date/time in UTC - hence the "Z" in the end - and I believe it was made like that for convenience (to make the API more "developer-friendly").
The javadoc for toString says:
A string representation of this instant using ISO-8601 representation.
The format used is the same as DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT.
And if we take a look at DateTimeFormatter.ISO_INSTANT javadoc:
The ISO instant formatter that formats or parses an instant in UTC, such as '2011-12-03T10:15:30Z'
As debuggers usually uses the toString method to display variables values, that explains why you see the Instant with "Z" in the end, instead of the seconds/nanoseconds values.
On the other hand, Timestamp.toString uses the JVM default timezone to convert the seconds/nanos values to a date/time string.
But the values of both Instant and Timestamp are the same. You can check that by calling the methods Instant.toEpochMilli and Timestamp.getTime, both will return the same value.
Note: instead of calling minusSeconds and minusNanos, you could use the truncatedTo method:
ZonedDateTime currentTimeUTC = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
currentTimeUTC = currentTimeUTC.truncatedTo(ChronoUnit.MINUTES);
This will set all fields smaller than ChronoUnit.MINUTES (in this case, the seconds and nanoseconds) to zero.
You could also use withSecond(0) and withNano(0), but in this case, I think truncatedTo is better and more straight to the point.
Note2: the java.time API's creator also made a backport for Java 6 and 7, and in the project's github issues you can see a comment about the behaviour of Instant.toString. The relevant part to this question:
If we were really hard line, the toString of an Instant would simply be the number of seconds from 1970-01-01Z. We chose not to do that, and output a more friendly toString to aid developers
That reinforces my view that the toString method was designed like this for convenience and ease to use.
Instant does not hold the Timezone information. It only holds the seconds and nanos.
To when you convert your ZonedDateTime into an Instant the information is lost.
When converting into Timestamp then the Timestamp will hold the default Timezone, which is, in your case, Europe/Berlin.
tl;dr
You are being confused by the unfortunate behavior of Timestamp::toString to apply the JVM’s current default time zone to the objects internal UTC value.
➡ Use Instant, never Timestamp.
A String such as 2018-04-26T12:31Z is in standard ISO 8601 format, with the Z being short for Zulu and meaning UTC.
Your entire block of code can be replaced with:
Instant.now()
…such as:
myPreparedStatement.setObject( … , Instant.now() ) ;
Details
The Answer by wowxts is correct. Instant is always in UTC, as is Timestamp, yet Timestamp::toString applies a time zone. This behavior is one of many poor design choices in those troubled legacy classes.
I'll add some other thoughts.
Use Instant for UTC
ZonedDateTime currentTimeUTC = ZonedDateTime.now(ZoneOffset.UTC);
While technically correct, this line is semantically wrong. If you want to represent a moment in UTC, use Instant class. The Instant class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds (up to nine (9) digits of a decimal fraction).
Instant instant = Instant.now() ; // Capture the current moment in UTC.
Avoid legacy Timestamp class
Timestamp.from(currentTimeUTC.toInstant());
While technically correct, using my suggest above, that would be:
Timestamp.from( instant ); // Convert from modern *java.time* class to troublesome legacy date-time class using new method added to the old class.
Nothing is lost going between Instant and Timestamp, as both represent a moment in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds. However…
No need to be using java.sql.Timestamp at all! That class is part of the troublesome old date-time classes that are now legacy. They were supplanted entirely by the java.time classes defined by JSR 310. Timestamp is replaced by Instant.
JDBC 4.2
As of JDBC 4.2 and later, you can directly exchange java.time objects with your database.
Insert/Update.
myPreparedStatement.setObject( … , instant ) ;
Retrieval.
Instant instant = myResultSet.getObject( … , Instant.class ) ;
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
You may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. Use a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later. No need for strings, no need for java.sql.* classes.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, Java SE 10, and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
For earlier Android (<26), the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
I am trying to send a date via JSON using a format like "date":"2018-01-03" but in my Java code I get 2018-01-03 02:00:00 and not 2018-01-03 00:00:00 as I would expect. Seems like it is adding some timezone to my date. Is this alright or am I missing something?
To represent a date-only value, use a date-only type rather than a date+time-of-day type.
LocalDate
LocalDate represents a date without a time-of-day and without a time zone.
LocalDate ld = LocalDate.of( "2018-01-03" ) ;
ZonedDateTime
To get the first moment of the day, specify a time zone.
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "Asia/Kolkata" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = ld.atStartOfDay( z ) ;
Instant
To view that same moment in UTC, extract an Instant object from the ZonedDateTime.
Instant instant = zdt.toInstant() ;
These topics have been discussed many many times already. Search Stack Overflow for more info.
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
The ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above) for Android specifically.
See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
From the Java API "The class Date represents a specific instant in time, with millisecond precision." When you create a Date you automatically get a date with a time. If you want to send just the date you have some options: 1. Convert the date to a string on the server side using the desired format. 2. On the client side ignore the time. 3. On the server side, zero the time fields, using methods such as setMinutes(0). But please note that these methods are deprecated in favor of Calendar methods, and further the old Date and Calendar classes are replaced by the Java 8 date and time classes.
I'm trying to modify some code to use Joda-Time rather than java.sql.Timestamp
Currently the code is using Threadlocal and SimpleDateFormat:
public static final ThreadLocal<DateFormat> FORMAT_TIMESTAMP = new ThreadLocal<DateFormat>() {
#Override
protected DateFormat initialValue() {
return new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXX");
}
};
public static String format(Timestamp timestamp) {
return FORMAT_TIMESTAMP.get().format(timestamp);
}
My understanding is that Joda-time is thread safe, so there is no need to use ThreadLocal
With this in mind I have modified the code to this:
public static String format(Instant timestamp) {
Instant formated = Instant.parse(timestamp.toString(), DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXX"));
return formated.toString();
}
If I nned to insert the values into a DB later in the code I plan to use this method.
Assuming I'm going about this the right way, is there anyway to format the DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXX") like the
SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssXXX")
At the moment I'm getting a Invalid format Exception
X is not recognised by Joda. Replacing the XXX by ZZ should do what you need.
Because DateTimeFormat is thread safe, you can share it across threads. So your code could look like this:
private static final DateTimeFormatter FORMAT_TIMESTAMP =
DateTimeFormat.forPattern("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZZ");
public static String format(Instant timestamp) {
return FORMAT_TIMESTAMP.print(timestamp);
}
tl;dr
No need to define the formatting pattern for standard inputs.
Parse directly into java.time objects.
Examples…
// offset-from-UTC
OffsetDateTime.parse( "2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789-07:00" )
…
// Z = Zulu = UTC
Instant.parse( "2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789Z" )
…
// ISO 8601 format extended with time zone name appended in square brackets.
ZonedDateTime.parse( "2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789-05:30[Asia/Kolkata]" )
Details
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to java.time classes.
java.time
No need for ThreadLocal as the java.time classes are inherently thread-safe because of they are immutable objects.
The standard ISO 8601 formats for date-time values are used by default in the java.time classes. So generally no need to specify a formatting pattern for such inputs.
Instant
The Instant class represents a moment on the timeline in UTC with a resolution of nanoseconds (up to nine (9) digits of a decimal fraction).
The Instant.parse method can parse standard input strings ending in Z, short for Zulu, meaning UTC.
Instant instant = Instant.parse(
"2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789Z" );
OffsetDateTime
For standard input strings that include a specific offset-from-UTC, use the OffsetDateTime class and its parse method.
OffsetDateTime odt = OffsetDateTime.parse(
"2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789-07:00" );
ZonedDateTime
The ZonedDateTime class with its toString method generates a String in a format that extends beyond the ISO 8601 format by appending the name in square brackets. This is wise, as a time zone is much more than an offset-from-UTC. A time zone is an offset plus a set of rules for handling anomalies such as Daylight Saving Time (DST).
This class can parse as well as generate such strings.
ZonedDateTime zdt = ZonedDateTime.parse(
"2016-01-23T12:34:56.123456789-05:30[Asia/Kolkata]" ) ;
DateTimeFormatter
For non-standard string formats, search Stack Overflow for java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter class.
Database
To send this value to a database through a JDBC driver supporting JDBC 4.2 or later, use the PreparedStatement::setObject method and for fetching, the ResultSet::getObject method.
myPreparedStatement.setObject( … , instant );
If your driver does not comply, fall back to converting to the old java.sql types. Look to the new conversion methods added to the old classes.
java.sql.Timestamp ts = java.sql.Timestamp.from( instant );
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to java.time.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8 and SE 9 and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
The ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above) for Android specifically.
See How to use….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.
I am getting time in string like this "2011-02-27T10:03:33.099-06:00" which is of xml dateTime type. I also have timezone of TimeZone type. How should I convert the dateTime to GregorianCalendar java type in that timezone.
Java has built in code to parse xml datetimes: use DatatypeConverter.parseDateTime(). that will return a Calendar in the parsed TimeZone. you can then set the Calendar TimeZone to your desired target TimeZone for whatever you need to do next.
sdf = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat ("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.S");
parses everything, except the trailing TZ.
sdf.parse (sd);
res168: java.util.Date = Sun Feb 27 10:03:33 CET 2011
From the api docs, I would expect
sdf = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat ("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSz");
to be used to read the -06:00 in the end. But I see, that there is either an offset in the form 0700 expected, or with a prefix of GMT for example "GMT-04:00". So you have to insert that GMT-thingy yourself:
sdf.parse (sd.replaceAll ("(......)$", "GMT$1"))
SDF.parse (str) returns a Date, which has to be converted into a GC:
GregorianCalendar calendar = new GregorianCalendar ();
calendar.setTime (date);
tl;dr
OffsetDateTime.parse( "2011-02-27T10:03:33.099-06:00" )
java.time
The modern approach uses the java.time classes that supplanted the troublesome old legacy date-time classes. Specifically, GregorianCalendar was replaced by ZonedDateTime for a time zone, and OffsetDateTime for a mere offset-from-UTC.
ISO 8601
Your input string happens to comply with the ISO 8601 standard format.
The java.time classes use these standard formats by default when parsing/generating strings. So no need to specify a formatting pattern.
OffsetDateTime
Your input string contains an offset-from-UTC, but not a time zone. So parse as an OffsetDateTime.
OffsetDateTime odt = OffsetDateTime.parse( "2011-02-27T10:03:33.099-06:00" ) ;
ZonedDateTime
If you know for certain the intended time zone, apply a ZoneId to produce a ZonedDateTime.
A time zone is always preferable to a mere offset. A zone is a history of past, present, and future changes to the offset used by the people of a particular region.
Specify a proper time zone name in the format of continent/region, such as America/Montreal, Africa/Casablanca, or Pacific/Auckland. Never use the 3-4 letter abbreviation such as EST or IST as they are not true time zones, not standardized, and not even unique(!).
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of( "Pacific/Galapagos" ) ;
ZonedDateTime zdt = odt.atZoneSameInstant( z ) ;
Converting legacy ↔ modern
If you must have a GregorianCalendar object to inter-operate with old code not yet updated to java.time, you can convert. Look to new methods added to the old classes.
GregorianCalendar myGregCal = GregorianCalendar.from( zdt ) ;
And going the other direction…
ZonedDateTime zdt = myGregCal.toZonedDateTime() ;
About java.time
The java.time framework is built into Java 8 and later. These classes supplant the troublesome old legacy date-time classes such as java.util.Date, Calendar, & SimpleDateFormat.
The Joda-Time project, now in maintenance mode, advises migration to the java.time classes.
To learn more, see the Oracle Tutorial. And search Stack Overflow for many examples and explanations. Specification is JSR 310.
Using a JDBC driver compliant with JDBC 4.2 or later, you may exchange java.time objects directly with your database. No need for strings nor java.sql.* classes.
Where to obtain the java.time classes?
Java SE 8, Java SE 9, and later
Built-in.
Part of the standard Java API with a bundled implementation.
Java 9 adds some minor features and fixes.
Java SE 6 and Java SE 7
Much of the java.time functionality is back-ported to Java 6 & 7 in ThreeTen-Backport.
Android
Later versions of Android bundle implementations of the java.time classes.
For earlier Android, the ThreeTenABP project adapts ThreeTen-Backport (mentioned above). See How to use ThreeTenABP….
The ThreeTen-Extra project extends java.time with additional classes. This project is a proving ground for possible future additions to java.time. You may find some useful classes here such as Interval, YearWeek, YearQuarter, and more.