Question

Convert Java Calendar to Date

Asked by: kineticexpert

Hi All,

I have a requirement to obtain the current date/time, and the date/time 5 mins from now. I can successfully do this using a Calendar, however the API that I am calling requires the times in teh Date datatype.

I think I could do it by setting the calendar to the proper times (which I am doing now - see below), but not sure on the best way to convert this to Date type?
Would I be best to pass the Calendar out as a string and then parse this into a date? Or use the milliseconds from the calendar to set the date?

Or is there an even easier way to this? Cheers

Calendar right_now = Calendar.getInstance();
        
        SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("d-MMMM-yyyy hh:mm");
        System.out.println("Before Addition date is: " + formatter.format(right_now.getTime()));
        
        Calendar five_mins = Calendar.getInstance();
        five_mins.add(Calendar.MINUTE, 5);
       
         System.out.println("After Addition date is: " + formatter.format(five_mins.getTime()));

                                  
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Asked On
2009-01-22 at 17:06:37ID24076293
Tags

java

,

calendar

,

date

,

convert

Topics

Java Programming Language

,

New to Java Programming

Participating Experts
6
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: CPColinPosted on 2009-01-22 at 17:13:08ID: 23445619

I might be misunderstanding your question, because it looks like you're calling five_mins.getTime(), which returns a Date object, so you should be fine already.

 

by: quincydudePosted on 2009-01-22 at 17:24:41ID: 23445676

I think you can use the getTime() method as Colin said or return the long value of getTimeInMillis() and create a new Date object by
new Date(five_mins.getTimeInMillis())

 

by: crossdevPosted on 2009-01-22 at 19:44:14ID: 23446199

right_now.getTime() returns the java.util.Date

right_now.getTime().getTime() returns the time in millisecons since epoch Jan 1, 1970.

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-23 at 00:58:03ID: 23447370

>>however the API that I am calling requires the times in teh Date datatype.

You can get the Date from the Calendar, of which you only need one instance:

        Calendar right_now = Calendar.getInstance();
 
        SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("d-MMMM-yyyy hh:mm");
        System.out.println("Before Addition date is: " + formatter.format(right_now.getTime()));
 
        right_now.add(Calendar.MINUTE, 5);
        Date fiveMinsLater = right_now.getTime(); // Use this for method call
 
        System.out.println("After Addition date is: " + formatter.format(fiveMinsLater));
                                              
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by: CEHJPosted on 2009-01-23 at 01:06:39ID: 23447416

You can also do

Date d2 = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis() + (1000 * 60 * 5));

                                              
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by: objectsPosted on 2009-01-25 at 02:56:24ID: 23460407

>          System.out.println("After Addition date is: " + formatter.format(five_mins.getTime()));

thats already passing a Date as others have mentioned above.
There is no need to change your code :)

 

by: fsze88Posted on 2009-08-09 at 02:03:34ID: 25053376

Calendar nowCal = Calendar.getInstance();
nowCal.add(Calendar.MINUTE, 5);
Date d = new Date(nowCal.getTimeInMillis());

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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