Not recognizing Date Type in Java MySQL DB Call

Question

I have the following calls in one of my classes

@Override
public Integer save(NewsItem item){
    ConnectionPool pool = new ConnectionPool();
    Connection connection = pool.getConnection();
    PreparedStatement ps = null;
    try{
        String query = "INSERT INTO newsItem (type,title,content,link,layout,imageUri,timestamp)" +
                       "VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?)";
        ps = connection.prepareStatement(query);
        ps.setInt(1,item.getType());
        ps.setString(2,item.getTitle());
        ps.setString(3,item.getContent());
        ps.setString(4,item.getLink());
        ps.setInt(5,item.getLayout());
        ps.setString(6,item.getImageUri());
        ps.setDate(7,item.getTimestamp());

        return ps.executeUpdate();
    }
    catch(SQLException e){
        e.printStackTrace();
        return 0;
    }
    finally{
        ConnectionUtility utility = new ConnectionUtility();
        utility.closePreparedStatement(ps);
        pool.freeConnection(connection);
    }
}

The NewsItem POJO has the following properties

    private Integer id;
    private Integer type;
    private String title;
    private String content;
    private String link;
    private Integer layout;
    private String imageUri;
    private Date timestamp;

Everything works and has been tested except for the timestamp call which is

ps.setDate(7,item.getTimeStamp())

I am able to set the Date on the NewsItem object by calling

item.setTimestamp(new Date());

but I get the error from my IDE (Eclipse) that tells me the following message

The method setDate(int,Date) in the type NewsItemDAO is not applicable for the arguments setDate(int,Date)

This has been a plague for me throughout the life of this application I have been working on because I have had to result to storing the timestamps as string for the time being.

If the column in my MySQL database is of type DATETIME is there a different way I should be saving that timestamp? Or is there something wrong with the call?

Answer 1

Check your imports - My guess is that you are using java.util.Date instead of java.sql.Date.

If possible, it's a good idea to use java.sql.Timestamp which extends java.util.Date to avoid this confusion and enhance the readability of your code.

Answer 2

The setDate() expects java.sql.Date, not java.util.Date.

ps.setDate(7, new java.sql.Date(item.getTimestamp().getTime()));

But the java.sql.Date contains only the date part of datetime, not the time part. You'd like to use java.sql.Timestamp instead.

ps.setTimestamp(7, new Timestamp(item.getTimestamp().getTime()));