# Java update API marshalling of DateTime

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [May 2, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537 "2012-05-02T13:01:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Per](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9f8e36/32.png) [@Per](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Per)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537/1 "2012-05-02T13:01:14Z")

</div>

If seems like the UpdateRequestBuilder won't accept DateTime (or Date)  
instances as script params (see stacktrace below). DateTime works fine  
for the index api. A workaround is to manually (toString) convert the  
DateTime instance to a String.

Is this a bug or is it the intended behaivor?

/Per.  
...  
HashMap\<String, Object\> map = new HashMap\<String, Object\>();  
map.put("mydate", DateTime.now());  
updateRequestBuilder.setScriptParams(map);  
..

Caused by: java.io.IOException: Can't write type [class  
org.joda.time.DateTime]  
at  
org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
266)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
260)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeMap(StreamOutput.java:  
205)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest.writeTo(UpdateRequest.java:  
358)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.transport.support.TransportStreams.buildRequest(TransportStreams.java:  
117)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.transport.netty.NettyTransport.sendRequest(NettyTransport.java:  
452)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService.sendRequest(TransportService.java:  
185)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
$AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
191)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
$AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
119)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
71)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
49)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportAction.execute(TransportAction.java:  
61)  
at org.elasticsearch.client.node.NodeClient.execute(NodeClient.java:  
83)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.client.support.AbstractClient.update(AbstractClient.java:  
101)  
at  
org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequestBuilder.doExecute(UpdateRequestBuilder.java:  
177)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537/2 "2012-05-02T13:32:51Z")

</div>

Yea, it does not do typical Java serialization, what you should do is  
either convert it to the ISO format string, or the milliseconds value.

On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Per [dev2null@gmail.com](mailto:dev2null@gmail.com) wrote:

> If seems like the UpdateRequestBuilder won't accept DateTime (or Date)  
> instances as script params (see stacktrace below). DateTime works fine  
> for the index api. A workaround is to manually (toString) convert the  
> DateTime instance to a String.
> 
> Is this a bug or is it the intended behaivor?
> 
> /Per.  
> ...  
> HashMap\<String, Object\> map = new HashMap\<String, Object\>();  
> map.put("mydate", DateTime.now());  
> updateRequestBuilder.setScriptParams(map);  
> ..
> 
> Caused by: java.io.IOException: Can't write type [class  
> org.joda.time.DateTime]  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
> 266)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
> 260)  
> at  
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeMap(StreamOutput.java:  
> 205)  
> at  
> org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest.writeTo(UpdateRequest.java:  
> 358)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.support.TransportStreams.buildRequest(TransportStreams.java:  
> 117)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.netty.NettyTransport.sendRequest(NettyTransport.java:  
> 452)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService.sendRequest(TransportService.java:  
> 185)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
> $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> 191)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
> $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> 119)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> 71)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> 49)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportAction.execute(TransportAction.java:  
> 61)  
> at org.elasticsearch.client.node.NodeClient.execute(NodeClient.java:  
> 83)  
> at  
> org.elasticsearch.client.support.AbstractClient.update(AbstractClient.java:  
> 101)  
> at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequestBuilder.doExecute(UpdateRequestBuilder.java:  
> 177)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Per](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9f8e36/32.png) [@Per](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Per)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537/3 "2012-05-02T19:14:33Z")

</div>

I understand that it's not "typical" Java serialization.

The thing that surprised me was that the IndexRequestBuilder and the  
UpdateRequestBuilder behaved differently when feeding them with a map  
with a Date instance and for me the reason is not obvious.

The IndexRequestBuilder#setSource(Map\<String, Object\> source) method  
ends up using the XContentMapConverter which knows how to serialize  
java.util.Date and it uses Object#toString() as a fallback for unknown  
types, e.g. joda times DateTime class.

UpdateRequestBuilder#setScriptParams(Map\<String, Object\> scriptParams)  
uses StreamOutput which doesn't know java.util.Date and defaults to  
throwing an IOException for unkown types.

I guess that the best approach is to always manually serialize date  
vales to a ISO format strings before talking to the ES java api.

On May 2, 3:32 pm, Shay Banon [kim...@gmail.com](mailto:kim...@gmail.com) wrote:

> Yea, it does not do typical Java serialization, what you should do is  
> either convert it to the ISO format string, or the milliseconds value.
> 
> On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Per [dev2n...@gmail.com](mailto:dev2n...@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > If seems like the UpdateRequestBuilder won't accept DateTime (or Date)  
> > instances as script params (see stacktrace below). DateTime works fine  
> > for the index api. A workaround is to manually (toString) convert the  
> > DateTime instance to a String.
> 
> > Is this a bug or is it the intended behaivor?
> 
> > /Per.  
> > ...  
> > HashMap\<String, Object\> map = new HashMap\<String, Object\>();  
> > map.put("mydate", DateTime.now());  
> > updateRequestBuilder.setScriptParams(map);  
> > ..
> 
> > Caused by: java.io.IOException: Can't write type [class  
> > org.joda.time.DateTime]  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
> > 266)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:  
> > 260)  
> > at  
> > org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeMap(StreamOutput.java:  
> > 205)  
> > at  
> > org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest.writeTo(UpdateRequest.java:  
> > 358)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.transport.support.TransportStreams.buildRequest(TransportStreams.java:  
> > 117)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.transport.netty.NettyTransport.sendRequest(NettyTransport.java:  
> > 452)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService.sendRequest(TransportService.java:  
> > 185)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
> > $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > 191)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction  
> > $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > 119)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > 71)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > 49)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportAction.execute(TransportAction.java:  
> > 61)  
> > at org.elasticsearch.client.node.NodeClient.execute(NodeClient.java:  
> > 83)  
> > at  
> > org.elasticsearch.client.support.AbstractClient.update(AbstractClient.java:  
> > 101)  
> > at
> 
> > org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequestBuilder.doExecute(UpdateRequestBuilder.java:  
> > 177)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537/4 "2012-05-02T20:50:14Z")

</div>

We can easily support Date, here is the issue:  
[Support Java Date when serializing update parameters · Issue #1902 · elastic/elasticsearch · GitHub](https://github.com/elasticsearch/elasticsearch/issues/1902).

On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 10:14 PM, Per [dev2null@gmail.com](mailto:dev2null@gmail.com) wrote:

> I understand that it's not "typical" Java serialization.
> 
> The thing that surprised me was that the IndexRequestBuilder and the  
> UpdateRequestBuilder behaved differently when feeding them with a map  
> with a Date instance and for me the reason is not obvious.
> 
> The IndexRequestBuilder#setSource(Map\<String, Object\> source) method  
> ends up using the XContentMapConverter which knows how to serialize  
> java.util.Date and it uses Object#toString() as a fallback for unknown  
> types, e.g. joda times DateTime class.
> 
> UpdateRequestBuilder#setScriptParams(Map\<String, Object\> scriptParams)  
> uses StreamOutput which doesn't know java.util.Date and defaults to  
> throwing an IOException for unkown types.
> 
> I guess that the best approach is to always manually serialize date  
> vales to a ISO format strings before talking to the ES java api.
> 
> On May 2, 3:32 pm, Shay Banon [kim...@gmail.com](mailto:kim...@gmail.com) wrote:
> 
> > Yea, it does not do typical Java serialization, what you should do is  
> > either convert it to the ISO format string, or the milliseconds value.
> > 
> > On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Per [dev2n...@gmail.com](mailto:dev2n...@gmail.com) wrote:
> > 
> > > If seems like the UpdateRequestBuilder won't accept DateTime (or Date)  
> > > instances as script params (see stacktrace below). DateTime works fine  
> > > for the index api. A workaround is to manually (toString) convert the  
> > > DateTime instance to a String.
> > 
> > > Is this a bug or is it the intended behaivor?
> > 
> > > /Per.  
> > > ...  
> > > HashMap\<String, Object\> map = new HashMap\<String, Object\>();  
> > > map.put("mydate", DateTime.now());  
> > > updateRequestBuilder.setScriptParams(map);  
> > > ..
> > 
> > > Caused by: java.io.IOException: Can't write type [class  
> > > org.joda.time.DateTime]  
> > > at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeGenericValue(StreamOutput.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput.writeMap(StreamOutput.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest.writeTo(UpdateRequest.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.support.TransportStreams.buildRequest(TransportStreams.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.netty.NettyTransport.sendRequest(NettyTransport.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService.sendRequest(TransportService.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction
> 
> > > $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > > 191)  
> > > at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction
> 
> > > $AsyncSingleAction.start(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:  
> > > 119)  
> > > at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.single.instance.TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.doExecute(TransportInstanceSingleOperationAction.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportAction.execute(TransportAction.java:
> 
> > > 1. at  
> > > org.elasticsearch.client.node.NodeClient.execute(NodeClient.java:
> > > 2. at
> 
> org.elasticsearch.client.support.AbstractClient.update(AbstractClient.java:
> 
> > > 1. at
> > 
> > >
> 
> org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequestBuilder.doExecute(UpdateRequestBuilder.java:
> 
> > > 1.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/java-update-api-marshalling-of-datetime/7537/5 "2017-07-06T03:30:15Z")

</div>