Trouble printing NSDate returned from formatter - objective-c

Question

I want to see what is getting stored in an NSDate, so I am using NSLog, but it's showing (null), whereas if I print the string stf2, it's showing the proper value.
NSDateFormatter *formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"YYYY-MM-dd"];
NSDateFormatter *formatter1 = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMM dd, yyyy"];
NSString *stf2 = [[pact.date componentsSeparatedByString:#" "] objectAtIndex:0];
NSLog(#"date %#",stf2);
NSDate *date_ = [formatter dateFromString:stf2];
pact.date = [formatter1 stringFromDate:date_];
NSLog(#"date %#",[NSDate date_]);

Answer 1

There are two specific problems in the code you've presented in the question.
Format Reset
First you do,
[formatter setDateFormat:#"YYYY-MM-dd"];
and then you initialize the second formatter followed by resetting the first formatter's format,
NSDateFormatter *formatter1 = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMM dd, yyyy"];
To emphasize
[formatter setDateFormat:#"MMM dd, yyyy"];
This should've been formatter1 but is formatter.
Date Format
If you look at the format you've use YYYY-MM-dd, it looks fine. But apparent YYYY have a different purpose and can be different from our usual calendar year. You should use the lowercase y instead.
[formatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd"];
And I don't think you meant this but
NSLog(#"date %#",[NSDate date_]);
should be
NSLog(#"date %#", date_);

Answer 2

you need to correct the dateformatter by setting proper date formatter. first do this
[formatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy-dd-MM"];
//it should be in the way as your string is. like if your string is 2011-Jun- 27 then fromatter should be
[formatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd"];
set the formatter as per your string's date format. then get the date back from this line
NSDate *date_ = [formatter dateFromString:stf2];

Answer 3

Assuming "stf2" is your string, then perhaps your object formatter is nil.

Answer 4

Below functions will be helpful to you.
"getDateTimeFromString" will take date and time as argument and it will return NSDate object.\
-(NSDate *)getDateTimeFromString :(NSString *)tempDate :(NSString *)tempTime{
NSString *dateValue = [tempDate stringByAppendingFormat:#" %#",tempTime];
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[[NSDateFormatter alloc] init] autorelease];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm"];
NSDate *date = [[NSDate alloc] init];
date = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateValue];
NSTimeZone* sourceTimeZone = [NSTimeZone timeZoneWithAbbreviation:#"GMT"];
NSTimeZone* destinationTimeZone = [NSTimeZone systemTimeZone];
NSInteger sourceGMTOffset = [sourceTimeZone secondsFromGMTForDate:date];
NSInteger destinationGMTOffset = [destinationTimeZone secondsFromGMTForDate:date];
NSTimeInterval interval = destinationGMTOffset - sourceGMTOffset;
NSDate* destinationDate = [[[NSDate alloc] initWithTimeInterval:interval sinceDate:date] autorelease];
return date;
}
"getDateStringFromDate" will take NSDate as argument and it will return NSString.
So, you can NSLog that value.
-(NSString *)getDateStringFromDate :(NSDate *)dateValue{
NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormat setDateFormat:#"yyyy-MM-dd"];
NSDateFormatter *timeFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[timeFormat setTimeStyle:NSDateFormatterShortStyle];
[timeFormat setDateFormat:#"HH:mm a"];
NSString *theDate = [dateFormat stringFromDate:dateValue];
/*NSLog(#"\n"
"theDate: |%#| \n"
"theTime: |%#| \n"
, theDate, theTime);*/
return theDate;
}
Hope you will get the answer.