taking input using LocalDate

Question

everyone! I am trying to think of a way to get a date input from user using LocalDate. I am getting an error that says "Type mismatch: cannot convert from String to LocalDate." I know why this error is happening but I want to know if there's another way to get around this.

String newName = stringInput("Enter a product name: ");
String newStore = stringInput("Enter a store name: ");
LocalDate newDate = dateInput("Enter a date (like 3/3/17): ");
double newCost = doubleInput("Enter cost: ");

    /* the third parameter of Purchase2 is a LocalDate which I think is the reason for my error.
     * Is there any way to get around this?
     */
Purchase2 purchase = new Purchase2(newName, newStore, newDate, newCost);
            purchases.add(purchase); // I'm adding these to an ArrayList


    /*
     * This is the method I created for newDate
     * I need to take the date as String and convert it to LocalDate
     */
 public static String dateInput(String userInput) {

    DateTimeFormatter dateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("M/d/yyyy");
    LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(userInput, dateFormat);


    System.out.println(date);
    return userInput;
}

I am really new to Java so any help will be appreciated! Thank you!

Answer 1

Change your return of dateInput to LocalDate

public static LocalDate dateInput(String userInput) {

    DateTimeFormatter dateFormat = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("M/d/yyyy");
    LocalDate date = LocalDate.parse(userInput, dateFormat);


    System.out.println(date);
    return date ;
}

And modify :

LocalDate newDate = dateInput(stringInput("Enter a date (like 3/3/17): "));

Beside that you need care about yyyy formatter