Question

Update: I was able to get the date converted from the server json to 2012/09/05 10:45

    NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [df setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];

NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
         [df setDateFormat:@"YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"];


    for (NSString *slotKey in myslots.allKeys) {
        NSDictionary *slot = [myslots valueForKey:slotKey];

        for (myDays in slot){

            if ([[self.myDays objectForKey:@"isReservable"] isEqualToNumber:[NSNumber numberWithInt:1]]){

                NSDate *newDate = [df dateFromString:[self.myDays objectForKey:@"begin"]];
                if (newDate){
                    [self.timesArray addObject:newDate];

                }
                NSLog(@"these are the returned newdates: %@",newDate);
                NSLog(@"This is the timesArray: %@", self.timesArray);
            }


        }        
    }

My NSLog of These are still returning null and my This is the timesArray is ()
I am not understanding what is wrong. Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Are you sure that your inputs are valid?

Also, your first log only says that the date formatter got allocated–not that it will produce results for your inputs.

Ran a quick test, it looks like your problem is in the timezone portion of the date. The following code will return: date is 2012-10-04 16:15:00 +0000

NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[df setDateFormat:@"YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm:ss V"];
NSDate* date = [df dateFromString:@"2012-10-04 09:15:00 PT"];
NSLog(@"date is %@", date);

You can check explicitly to see if the date formatter can get a date from your string like this:

    __autoreleasing NSDate* date2 = nil;
    NSRange dateRange = NSMakeRange(0, [@"2012-10-04 09:15:00 PT" length]);
    __autoreleasing NSError* err = nil;

    BOOL canMakeDate = [df getObjectValue:&date2 forString:@"2012-10-04 09:15:00 PT" range:&dateRange error:&err];
    NSLog(@"could get a date %@, from range %@. Got %@", canMakeDate ? @"YES" : @"NO", NSStringFromRange(dateRange), date2);

Since the date string is coming from server-side I would suggest investigating how it’s sending down timezones and change them manually on your end. Not pretty but regexs are your friend.