Out Date instead of Date/Time in Thymeleaf template - date

Question

When I output birthDate in a Thymeleaf template it prints the date/time:
1962-04-18 00:00:00.0
How can I output just the date?
This is what I've currently got:
pom.xml
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf</artifactId>
<version>3.0.11.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf-spring5</artifactId>
<version>3.0.11.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf.extras</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf-extras-java8time</artifactId>
<version>3.0.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
Thymeleaf template:
<tbody>
<tr th:each="tempUser : ${users}">
<td th:text="${#temporals.format(tempUser.birthDate, 'yyyy-MM-dd')}" />
</tr>
</tbody>
Variable in User.java
#DateTimeFormat(pattern="yyyy-MM-dd")
#Column(name="birth_date")
private Date birthDate;
When I try to view the page I get:
Whitelabel Error Page
This application has no explicit mapping for /error, so you are seeing this as a fallback.
Mon Oct 12 16:31:36 BST 2020
There was an unexpected error (type=Internal Server Error, status=500).
An error happened during template parsing (template: "class path resource [templates/users/list-users.html]")
org.thymeleaf.exceptions.TemplateInputException: An error happened during template parsing (template: "class path resource [templates/users/list-users.html]")
at org.thymeleaf.templateparser.markup.AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.parse(AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.java:241)
at org.thymeleaf.templateparser.markup.AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.parseStandalone(AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.java:100)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.TemplateManager.parseAndProcess(TemplateManager.java:666)
at org.thymeleaf.TemplateEngine.process(TemplateEngine.java:1098)
at org.thymeleaf.TemplateEngine.process(TemplateEngine.java:1072)
at org.thymeleaf.spring5.view.ThymeleafView.renderFragment(ThymeleafView.java:362)
at org.thymeleaf.spring5.view.ThymeleafView.render(ThymeleafView.java:189)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.render(DispatcherServlet.java:1373)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.processDispatchResult(DispatcherServlet.java:1118)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:1057)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:943)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:1006)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:898)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:626)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:883)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:733)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:231)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:53)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:100)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.springframework.web.filter.FormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(FormContentFilter.java:93)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:201)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:202)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:97)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:541)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:143)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:92)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:78)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:343)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:374)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:65)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:868)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1590)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:832)
Caused by: org.attoparser.ParseException: Exception evaluating SpringEL expression: "#temporals.format(tempUser.birthDate, 'yyyy-MM-dd')" (template: "users/list-users" - line 43, col 9)
at org.attoparser.MarkupParser.parseDocument(MarkupParser.java:393)
at org.attoparser.MarkupParser.parse(MarkupParser.java:257)
at org.thymeleaf.templateparser.markup.AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.parse(AbstractMarkupTemplateParser.java:230)
... 48 more
Caused by: org.thymeleaf.exceptions.TemplateProcessingException: Exception evaluating SpringEL expression: "#temporals.format(tempUser.birthDate, 'yyyy-MM-dd')" (template: "users/list-users" - line 43, col 9)
at org.thymeleaf.spring5.expression.SPELVariableExpressionEvaluator.evaluate(SPELVariableExpressionEvaluator.java:290)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.VariableExpression.executeVariableExpression(VariableExpression.java:166)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.SimpleExpression.executeSimple(SimpleExpression.java:66)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.Expression.execute(Expression.java:109)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.Expression.execute(Expression.java:138)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.processor.AbstractStandardExpressionAttributeTagProcessor.doProcess(AbstractStandardExpressionAttributeTagProcessor.java:144)
at org.thymeleaf.processor.element.AbstractAttributeTagProcessor.doProcess(AbstractAttributeTagProcessor.java:74)
at org.thymeleaf.processor.element.AbstractElementTagProcessor.process(AbstractElementTagProcessor.java:95)
at org.thymeleaf.util.ProcessorConfigurationUtils$ElementTagProcessorWrapper.process(ProcessorConfigurationUtils.java:633)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.ProcessorTemplateHandler.handleStandaloneElement(ProcessorTemplateHandler.java:918)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.StandaloneElementTag.beHandled(StandaloneElementTag.java:228)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.Model.process(Model.java:282)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.Model.process(Model.java:290)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.IteratedGatheringModelProcessable.processIterationModel(IteratedGatheringModelProcessable.java:367)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.IteratedGatheringModelProcessable.process(IteratedGatheringModelProcessable.java:221)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.ProcessorTemplateHandler.handleCloseElement(ProcessorTemplateHandler.java:1640)
at org.thymeleaf.engine.TemplateHandlerAdapterMarkupHandler.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(TemplateHandlerAdapterMarkupHandler.java:428)
at org.thymeleaf.templateparser.markup.InlinedOutputExpressionMarkupHandler$InlineMarkupAdapterPreProcessorHandler.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(InlinedOutputExpressionMarkupHandler.java:344)
at org.thymeleaf.standard.inline.OutputExpressionInlinePreProcessorHandler.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(OutputExpressionInlinePreProcessorHandler.java:237)
at org.thymeleaf.templateparser.markup.InlinedOutputExpressionMarkupHandler.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(InlinedOutputExpressionMarkupHandler.java:184)
at org.attoparser.HtmlElement.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(HtmlElement.java:199)
at org.attoparser.HtmlMarkupHandler.handleAutoCloseElementEnd(HtmlMarkupHandler.java:472)
at org.attoparser.MarkupEventProcessorHandler.checkStackForElement(MarkupEventProcessorHandler.java:763)
at org.attoparser.MarkupEventProcessorHandler.handleCloseElementStart(MarkupEventProcessorHandler.java:439)
at org.attoparser.ParsingElementMarkupUtil.parseCloseElement(ParsingElementMarkupUtil.java:197)
at org.attoparser.MarkupParser.parseBuffer(MarkupParser.java:725)
at org.attoparser.MarkupParser.parseDocument(MarkupParser.java:301)
... 50 more
Caused by: org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException: EL1004E: Method call: Method format(java.sql.Timestamp,java.lang.String) cannot be found on type org.thymeleaf.extras.java8time.expression.Temporals
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.MethodReference.findAccessorForMethod(MethodReference.java:226)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.MethodReference.getValueInternal(MethodReference.java:135)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.MethodReference.access$000(MethodReference.java:55)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.MethodReference$MethodValueRef.getValue(MethodReference.java:387)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.CompoundExpression.getValueInternal(CompoundExpression.java:92)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.SpelNodeImpl.getValue(SpelNodeImpl.java:112)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpression.getValue(SpelExpression.java:337)
at org.thymeleaf.spring5.expression.SPELVariableExpressionEvaluator.evaluate(SPELVariableExpressionEvaluator.java:263)
... 76 more

Answer 1

<p th:text="${#temporals.format(localDate, 'dd-MM-yyyy')}"></p>
The above code gives the following output:
12-10-2020
And of course, you must have the following dependencies added, in the pom.xml file.
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf</artifactId>
<version>3.0.11.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf-spring5</artifactId>
<version>3.0.11.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
The latest versions of thymeleaf and thymeleaf-spring5 can be found on Maven Central. Note that, for a Spring 4 project, the thymeleaf-spring4 library must be used instead of thymeleaf-spring5.
Moreover, in order to work with Java 8 Date classes, we will add the following dependency to the pom.xml:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.thymeleaf.extras</groupId>
<artifactId>thymeleaf-extras-java8time</artifactId>
<version>3.0.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
The thymeleaf extras is an optional module, that was created for compatibility with the Java 8 Time API. It adds a #temporals object to the Context as a utility object processor during expression evaluations. This means that it can be used to evaluate expressions in Object-Graph Navigation Language (OGNL) and Spring Expression Language (SpringEL).
The Time package is a date, time, and calendar API for the Java SE platform. The main difference between old legacy Date and is that the new API distinguishes between machine and human views of a timeline. The machine view reveals a sequence of integral values relative to the epoch, whereas view reveals a set of fields (e.g., year or day).
To work with the Time package, configure the template engine to use the Java8TimeDialect:
private ISpringTemplateEngine templateEngine(ITemplateResolver templateResolver) {
SpringTemplateEngine engine = new SpringTemplateEngine();
engine.addDialect(new Java8TimeDialect());
engine.setTemplateResolver(templateResolver);
return engine;
}
This will add the #temporals object similar to the ones in the Standard Dialect, allowing the formatting and creation of Temporal objects from Thymeleaf templates.
In order to test the processing of new and old classes, create the following variables and add them as model objects to the controller class:
model.addAttribute("standardDate", new Date());
model.addAttribute("localDateTime", LocalDateTime.now());
model.addAttribute("localDate", LocalDate.now());
model.addAttribute("timestamp", Instant.now());