Java: Send Date Object as JSONObject through Parse.com REST API

Question

I am trying to create a new object in my Parse.com database through Parse's REST API, using an HttpsUrlConnection. Their REST API only accepts JSON. I have gotten everything to work, where the database would accept the new object entry - except for when I attempt to include a Date field. When I do pass in a Date, the server rejects the object entirely.

I found this in their documentation this description for how to add a Date field in an object when using the REST API:

The Parse mobile client libraries also support dates, binary data, and relational data. In the REST API, these values are encoded as JSON hashes with the __type field set to indicate their type, so you can read or write these fields if you use the correct encoding.

The Date type contains a field iso which contains a UTC timestamp stored in ISO 8601 format with millisecond precision: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.MMMZ.

{
  "__type": "Date",
  "iso": "2011-08-21T18:02:52.249Z"
}

So if I want to create a new object and pass it to the database, I am assuming I need to create another JSONObject and pass it over in its corresponding field. However, when I tried that, it still rejected it. Below is my attempt at adding the Date object as a parameter to pass over, stored in its own JSONObject. What am I doing wrong? What is the right way of sendign a Date object in JSON, based on their docs?

//datePicked is a Calendar object
Date sendTime = datePicked.getTime();
SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
String sendTimeInUTC = formatter.format(sendTime);  

//Storing the Date object as a JSONObject, as specified
JSONObject dateAsObj = new JSONObject();
dateAsObj.put("__type", "Date");
dateAsObj.put("iso", sendTimeInUTC);

//jsonParam is the JSONObject that is being sent over to Parse's REST API
jsonParam.put("sendTime", dateAsObj);

Here is the full function which makes the http request, for context and reference:

private void runHttpRequest(final String emailAddress, final String password,
        String[] recipients, final String title, final String message) throws MalformedURLException {
    //Stores email in Parse DB, from Java servlet
    String url = "https://api.parse.com/1/classes/Email";
    URL obj = new URL(url);
    HttpsURLConnection con = null;
    try {
        con = (HttpsURLConnection) obj.openConnection();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to connect to http link");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    //add request header
    try {
        con.setRequestMethod("POST");
    } catch (ProtocolException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to set to POST");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    con.setRequestProperty("X-Parse-Application-Id", "*****************");
    con.setRequestProperty("X-Parse-REST-API-Key", "*******************");
    con.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");

    JSONObject jsonParam = new JSONObject();
    jsonParam.put("username", "******");
    jsonParam.put("emailID", 1);
    jsonParam.put("universalID", "******");
    Gson converter = new Gson();
    String recipientsInJson = converter.toJson(recipients);
    jsonParam.put("to", recipientsInJson);
    jsonParam.put("from", emailAddress);
    jsonParam.put("title", title);
    jsonParam.put("body", message);

    Date sendTime = datePicked.getTime();
    //jsonParam.put("sendTime", sendTime);
    SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
    formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));
    String sendTimeInUTC = formatter.format(sendTime);
    System.out.println("UTC time" + sendTimeInUTC);

    JSONObject dateAsObj = new JSONObject();
    dateAsObj.put("__type", "Date");
    dateAsObj.put("iso", sendTimeInUTC);
    System.out.println(dateAsObj.toString());

    jsonParam.put("sendTime", dateAsObj);

    String urlParameters = jsonParam.toString();

    // Send POST request
    con.setDoOutput(true);
    DataOutputStream wr = null;
    try {
        wr = new DataOutputStream(con.getOutputStream());
    } catch (IOException e1) {
        System.out.println("Failed to get output stream");
        e1.printStackTrace();
    }
    try {
        wr.writeBytes(urlParameters);
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to connect to send over Parse object as parameter");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    try {
        wr.flush();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    try {
        wr.close();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to connect to close datastream connection");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    int responseCode = 0;
    try {
        responseCode = con.getResponseCode();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to connect to get response code");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    System.out.println("\nSending 'POST' request to URL : " + url);
    System.out.println("Post parameters : " + urlParameters);
    System.out.println("Response Code : " + responseCode);

    BufferedReader in = null;
    try {
        in = new BufferedReader(
                new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to get input stream");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    String inputLine;
    StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();

    try {
        while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
            response.append(inputLine);
        }
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to read line");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    try {
        in.close();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        System.out.println("Failed to close input stream");
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    //print result
    System.out.println(response.toString());
}

Any help or input would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Your format doesn't match the one they've required. For example:

Theirs: 2011-08-21T18:02:52.249Z
Yours:  2011-08-21 18:02:52.249

You're missing the T and the Z.

So try changing your format to:

SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");

To be honest, I'd be surprised if this weren't handled automatically though - have you tried just dateAsObj.put("iso", sendTime)?

Answer 2

Standard Date Object is not stored in Parse. You have to set it as a JSON Object with "__type": "Date" and "iso": Date_String_you_want_to_set. with the date string formatted as below:

DateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'");