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Thread: Date and SimpleDateFormat Class

  1. #1
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    Default Date and SimpleDateFormat Class

    import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
    import java.util.Date;

    public class Time_Difference{

    public static void main(String[] args) {

    String dateStart = "01/15/2012 09:29:58";
    String dateStop = "01/15/2012 10:29:58";

    //HH converts hour in 24 hours format (0-23), day calculation
    SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss");

    Date d1 = null; //Doubt here...
    Date d2 = null;

    try {
    d1 = format.parse(dateStart);
    d2 = format.parse(dateStop);

    //in milliseconds
    long diff = d2.getTime() - d1.getTime();

    long diffSeconds = diff / 1000 % 60;
    long diffMinutes = diff / (60 * 1000) % 60;
    long diffHours = diff / (60 * 60 * 1000) % 24;
    long diffDays = diff / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);

    System.out.print(diffDays + " days, ");
    System.out.print(diffHours + " hours, ");
    System.out.print(diffMinutes + " minutes, ");
    System.out.print(diffSeconds + " seconds.");

    } catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
    }

    }




    I have 3 questions in the above code block

    1) why do we assign null to the Date variables d1 & d2?
    2)What exactly does does d1 and d2 return after the executing the following lines of code?
    d1 = format.parse(dateStart);
    d2 = format.parse(dateStop);
    I know we are converting date string to some integer value ...But what exactly is that value??

    3] please explain the below logic of how the diff between d1 & d2 is converted into seconds,minutes, hours etc..
    long diffSeconds = diff / 1000 % 60;
    long diffMinutes = diff / (60 * 1000) % 60;
    long diffHours = diff / (60 * 60 * 1000) % 24;
    long diffDays = diff / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);



    Thank you i really appreciate ur time and support....It means a lot for a beginner like me


  2. #2
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    Default Re: Date and SimpleDateFormat Class

    You were given a link to the general forum guidelines in your first post that included instructions on how to post code correctly. Please review those instructions and post your code correctly with code or highlight tags.

  3. #3
    Member andbin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Date and SimpleDateFormat Class

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan7744 View Post
    1) why do we assign null to the Date variables d1 & d2?
    The initialization to null is not really necessary in this case, because d1/d2 are assigned by format.parse before any use of these variables.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan7744 View Post
    2)What exactly does does d1 and d2 return after the executing the following lines of code?
    d1 = format.parse(dateStart);
    d2 = format.parse(dateStop);
    I know we are converting date string to some integer value ...But what exactly is that value??
    The main concept behind Date class is that it contains 1 long value representing the number of milliseconds since the "epoch" (January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 GMT).

    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan7744 View Post
    3] please explain the below logic of how the diff between d1 & d2 is converted into seconds,minutes, hours etc..
    long diffSeconds = diff / 1000 % 60;
    long diffMinutes = diff / (60 * 1000) % 60;
    long diffHours = diff / (60 * 60 * 1000) % 24;
    long diffDays = diff / (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
    Since diff is a difference in milliseconds, it's easy to understand these calculations. For example, diffSeconds is from the milliseconds divided by 1000. However only /1000 would be the number of "absolute" seconds since epoch. So % 60 you have the seconds in that minute.
    The others are similar.
    Andrea, www.andbin.netSCJP 5 (91%) – SCWCD 5 (94%)

    Useful links for Java beginnersMy new project Java Examples on Google Code

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Date and SimpleDateFormat Class

    Thank u andbin ... I understood the logic and the code as well .. Thanks a lot

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