Set MySQL Timestamp field using Faker

Question

I can't seem to get a timestamp in a format that my database seeder will accept.

I am running this command in php artisan tinker:

$faker->dateTimeThisYear($max = '+1 year')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')

Which produces:

"2015-03-17 01:26:44"

As far as I can tell, this matches the format that the database expects (0000-00-00 00:00:00). However, when I try to seed the DB I get the following errors:

 [InvalidArgumentException]                
  The separation symbol could not be found  
  Unexpected data found.                    
  Hour can not be higher than 12            
  Unexpected data found.                    
  A meridian could not be found

Every other variation I've tried including passing an actual DateTime object has not worked either. Not even this format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss'

This doesn't work either:

DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', '2000-05-05 22:22:22')

Error:

DateTime::createFromFormat() expects parameter 2 to be string, object given

Most disturbingly is that in the migrations for that column, I can specify Carbon::now() as the default value and it works with no problem. It's only when seeding that these errors crop up. It won't even let me use Carbon::now() when seeding.

Migration:

$table->timestamp('time_available')->default(Carbon::now());

Seeding:

$factory->define(App\AvailableMeeting::class, function (Faker\Generator $faker) {
return [
    'office_id' => 1,
    'worker_id' => 1,
    'length_minutes' => $faker->numberBetween(14,61),
    'time_available' => $faker->dateTimeThisYear('+1 year')->format('Y-m-d H:i:s') // doesn't work.. neither does Carbon::now()
    ];
});

Database:

Your thoughts are appreciated!

Can you post the actual seeder code that sets the date, please, if that's where the error is coming from? (Also, when you say it won't "let" you use Carbon::now when seeding, what's the error you get?) — Matt Gibson, Oct 11 '15 at 21:07
Hey @MattGibson, I have updated the question. When I use `Carbon::now()` while seeding I get.... [InvalidArgumentException] The separation symbol could not be found Unexpected data found. Unexpected data found. Unexpected data found. A meridian could not be found — Marcel Gruber, Oct 11 '15 at 21:14
(Also, can you post the database definition for the table you're trying to insert into? Bear in mind you might find this your problem is actually coming from a different field, if, for example, you've accidentally defined one of the other columns as a date type and are now trying to insert the wrong kind of value into it...) — Matt Gibson, Oct 11 '15 at 21:15

Set MySQL Timestamp field using Faker

0 Answers0