Format NSDate to this format in NSString:- January 15 2013

Question

Currently , I am storing the dates in a NSArray, as I have to load the list of dates in custom drop down view, but can't able to do so because of the following issue.

Here is the code how I am trying to format the NSDate:-

 NSCalendar *currentCalendar = [NSCalendar currentCalendar];
    NSDate *today = [NSDate date];

    NSInteger dc = [currentCalendar  ordinalityOfUnit:NSDayCalendarUnit
                                               inUnit:NSYearCalendarUnit
                                              forDate:today];

    datesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    for (int index = 1; index <= dc; index++)
    {


    NSDateComponents *components = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
            [components setDay:index];
    NSCalendar *gregorian = [[NSCalendar alloc]
                                     initWithCalendarIdentifier:NSGregorianCalendar];
            NSDate *date = [gregorian dateFromComponents:components];// Year is coming "0000" --log is: "0000-12-31 18:06:32 +0000"
            NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
            [formatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd yyyy"]; //updated
            NSString *articleDateString = [formatter stringFromDate:date]; // getting- Jan 01 0001
           [datesArray addObject: pickerItemTitle];
     } 

But I am not getting the desired output like "January 15 2013"

Also in NSDate I am getting something like this "0000-12-31 18:06:32 +0000", can anybody tell me why the year is coming "0000"

Answer 1

You aren't setting the month and year of the NSDateComponents object:

[components setMonth:month];
[components setYear:year];

(see the NSDateComponents class reference for an example).

Also, your formatting string is wrong. You need:

• MMMM for full name month.
• yyyy for year.

So:

[formatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd yyyy"];

Here is the reference to follow.

Answer 2

The problem with your code is that your are initialising the NSDateComponents with day 1, and since you are not providing any year, it is taking year as "1". So for your code to work properly, you may set the year of the current date as the NSDateComponents' year.

NSCalendar *currentCalendar = [NSCalendar currentCalendar];
NSDate *today = [NSDate date];

NSInteger dc = [currentCalendar  ordinalityOfUnit:NSCalendarUnitDay
                                           inUnit:NSCalendarUnitYear
                                          forDate:today];

NSMutableArray *datesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
for (int index = 1; index <= dc; index++)
{

    //Using dateComponents for setting year
    NSDateComponents *dateComponents = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] components:NSCalendarUnitDay | NSCalendarUnitMonth | NSCalendarUnitYear fromDate:[NSDate date]];
    NSInteger year = [dateComponents year];

    NSDateComponents *components = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
    [components setDay:index];

    [components setYear:year];//Setting year of components

    NSCalendar *gregorian = [[NSCalendar alloc]
                             initWithCalendarIdentifier:NSCalendarIdentifierGregorian];
    NSDate *date = [gregorian dateFromComponents:components];// Year is coming "0000" --log is: "0000-12-31 18:06:32 +0000"
    NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
    [formatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd yyyy"]; //updated
    NSString *articleDateString = [formatter stringFromDate:date]; // getting- Jan 01 0001
    [datesArray addObject: pickerItemTitle];
    NSLog(@"%@", articleDateString);
}

Answer 3

You can look up formatting values here: http://waracle.net/iphone-nsdateformatter-date-formatting-table/

In your case, you will want to try this format:

[formatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd YYYY"];

Answer 4

Replace your date format line with this line :

[formatter setDateFormat:@"MMMM dd YYYY"];

Answer 5

Follow this post below. It explains it in detail.

http://b2cloud.com.au/how-to-guides/nsdateformatter-format-strings/

Answer 6

NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormat setDateFormat:@"yyyy-MM-dd"];

NSDateFormatter *timeFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[timeFormat setDateFormat:@"HH:mm:ss"];

NSDate *now = [[NSDate alloc] init];

NSString *theDate = [dateFormat stringFromDate:now];
NSString *theTime = [timeFormat stringFromDate:now];

NSLog(@"\n"
      "theDate: |%@| \n"
      "theTime: |%@| \n"
      , theDate, theTime);

[dateFormat release];
[timeFormat release];
[now release];

Also take a look at this Date and Time it will help you alot

Answer 7

User31 has already answered my question and it does work.

Meanwhile after some researching I solved the issue by the following process and added an alternative way of approaching:-

   datesArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    
    
    NSDateComponents *comps = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
    [comps setDay:1];
    [comps setMonth:1];
    [comps setYear:1900];
    NSDate *minDate = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] dateFromComponents:comps];
    
    NSCalendar *gregorianCalendar = [[NSCalendar alloc] initWithCalendarIdentifier: NSGregorianCalendar];
    NSDateComponents *days = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
    NSInteger dayCount = 0;
    while ( TRUE ) {
        
        [days setDay: ++dayCount];
        NSDate *date = [gregorianCalendar dateByAddingComponents: days toDate: minDate options: 0];
        if ( [date compare: [NSDate date]] == NSOrderedDescending )
        {
            [self removeLoader];
            break;
        }
        //NSString *articleDateString = [formatter stringFromDate:date];
        
        NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
        
        [df setDateFormat:@"dd"];
        NSString *dd = [df stringFromDate:date];
        
        [df setDateFormat:@"MMMM"];
        NSString *mm = [df stringFromDate:date];
        
        [df setDateFormat:@"yyyy"];
        NSString *yy = [df stringFromDate:date];
        
        
        NSString *pickerItemTitle = [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%@     %@     %@", mm,dd,yy];
        [datesArray addObject: pickerItemTitle];
        
    }

Answer 8

Please Check the Code

NSDateFormatter* dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
dateFormatter.dateFormat = @"MMMM dd yyyy";
NSDate *yourDate = [dateFormatter dateFromString:@"January 15 2013"];