# Error in string field **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [December 19, 2016, 7:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403 "2016-12-19T07:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madhan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@madhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 7:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/1 "2016-12-19T07:52:22Z")
Failed to parse [**searchtext**]; nested: MapperParsingException[failed to parse date field [], tried both date format [dateOptionalTime], and timestamp number]; nested: IllegalArgumentException[Invalid format: "". I am getting the above error messsage while inserting docs with json data. The error field searchtext is of string datatype but it throwing exception as datetime. i dont know what went wrong.. Advice to overcome this issue.. Its very urgent.. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/2 "2016-12-19T07:55:07Z")
It looks like the field has been mapped as a date and you're trying to index a document where the field doesn't contain a date. If the field shouldn't be a date field you need to reindex. You should probably explicitly define the field as a string field to avoid having this happening again. ---
**Author:** ![madhan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@madhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/3 "2016-12-19T07:58:30Z")
Thanks Magnusbaeck. How to define that field as string field when i'm indexing docs using json data. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 8:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/4 "2016-12-19T08:00:45Z")
AFAIK you can't set the mapping of a field when you're indexing a document. Mappings are set either when you create the index (possibly implicitly via an index template) or with a put mapping API call (as long as the field whose mapping you're trying to define doesn't already exist). ---
**Author:** ![madhan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@madhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 8:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/5 "2016-12-19T08:11:12Z")
Yeah, I understand. Pls send any reference or example of how to create index with mapping using DSL. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 8:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/6 "2016-12-19T08:12:01Z")
Please see the Elasticsearch documentation and feel free to come back with any specific questions. ---
**Author:** ![madhan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@madhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/madhan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 8:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/7 "2016-12-19T08:14:06Z")
Ok. Thanks for your response. I will refer document and get back you. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-string-field/69403/8 "2017-01-16T08:14:19Z")
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