How to convert a parse date object to a string? - ios

Question

beginner alert
I'm trying to query for a date from PFUser and then format it to NSDate so it is more useful. The trouble begins when I try to convert the object to a NSString so I can format it with NSDateFormatter()
var user = PFUser.query()
user.whereKey("username", equalTo: PFUser.currentUser().username)
user.findObjectsInBackgroundWithBlock { (objects, error) -> Void in
if error == nil {
for object in objects {
var lastActive = object["lastActive"]
if lastActive != nil {
let newLastActive = lastActive as String //problem starts here!!
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss.SSS'Z'"
let date = dateFormatter.dateFromString(newLastActive)
println("new date \(date)")
}
}
}
}
What is the correct way of doing this? Also, if I don't specify the variable type as AnyObject, it keeps coming out as a optional. How do I get rid of the optional while converting it to String?
edit: the object "lastActive" is a date set by parse cloud, not a string.

Answer 1

If your lastActive cell returns a date you could use:
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss.SSS'Z'"
let date = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(lastActive as NSDate)
You dont have to cast your date to string, you will create a date string via the dateformatter.
But if you do so, you could use lastActive as! String insted of lastActive as String
UPDATED
for object in objects {
var lastActive = object["lastActive"]
if lastActive != nil {
let dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss.SSS'Z'"
let date = dateFormatter.stringFromDate(lastActive as NSDate)
println(date)
}
}
I tried with this code above and if you've set your column in parse to date, it should work.