Why wouldn't my date parse correctly? (Transform script)

[Casey23]

I am having an issue trying to parse a date in a transform script. In an IDE, I can run the following code and it works as expected:

// Input date in "mm/dd/yyyy" format
var inputDate = "9/21/2023"; // Replace with your date
console.log("Input date:", inputDate);

// Split the input date into components
var dateComponents = inputDate.split('/');

// Ensure the month and day have two digits by padding with '0' if necessary
var month = String(dateComponents[0]).padStart(2, '0');
var day = String(dateComponents[1]).padStart(2, '0');
var year = dateComponents[2];

// Form the converted date in "yyyy-mm-dd" format
var formattedDate = year + '-' + month + '-' + day;

console.log("Converted date:", formattedDate);

 The output looks like this:

Input date: 9/21/2023
Converted date: 2023-09-21

In ServiceNow, I have a transform script that is trying to convert that same date. I get an error in the logs that says:

Error

Unparseable date: "2023-undefined-undefined": java.text.ParseException: Unparseable date: "2023-undefined-undefined": java.base/java.text.DateFormat.parse(DateFormat.java:395)

This error aligns with my script level logging as I can see the original date, and then after the attempt at converting, it only seems to pickup the year:

Information

BEFORE termDate9/21/2023

Information

AFTER termDate: 2023-undefined-undefined

Here is the logic in the transform script for the date:

(function runTransformScript(source, map, log, target /* GlideRecord */ ) {

    // Check if the Comparison field contains the letter "D" (aka Termination)
    gs.log('BEFORE empNumber' + source.u_empnumber);
    gs.log('BEFORE jobTitle' + source.u_jobtitle);
    gs.log('BEFORE termDate' + source.u_terminationdate);
    if (source.u_comparison.indexOf('D') !== -1) {

        // Get the values from the source CSV file
        var empNumber = source.u_empnumber;
        var jobTitle = source.u_jobtitle;
        var originalTermDate = source.u_terminationdate;
		var dateComponents = originalTermDate.split('/');
		var month = String(dateComponents[0]).padStart(2, '0');
		var day = String(dateComponents[1]).padStart(2, '0');
		var year = dateComponents[2];

		var termDate = year + '-' + month + '-' + day;
		
		
        gs.log('AFTER empNumber: ' + empNumber);
        gs.log('AFTER jobTitle: ' + jobTitle);
        gs.log('AFTER termDate: ' + termDate);

Is there something I should be doing differently (or can do differently)? Why would this work in an IDE but not in ServiceNow?

[Alka_Chaudhary]

Hello @Casey23 ,

You need not to write script for parsing the date field, you can directly try to load data in this format '9/21/2023' and ServiceNow date field will adjust the data and update the field OOB.

If this response clears up your doubt, kindly flag it as both helpful and correct.

Thanks,

Alka

[Casey23]

In the field mapping, the date shows up in the target table correctly. However, in this case I am also creating a request and you can't map directly into a variable. So that's why converting the date is necessary.

[Alka_Chaudhary]

If the variable type is date then you can try mapping without parsing it. It should work.

[Alka_Chaudhary · Accepted solution]

Use the below code for parsing without using .padStart(2,0) then it should work:-

var originalTermDate = '9/22/2023';
		var dateComponents = originalTermDate.split('/');
		var month = String(dateComponents[0]);
		var day = String(dateComponents[1]);
		var year = dateComponents[2];
   		var termDate = year + '-' + month + '-' + day;
        gs.info('AFTER termDate: ' + termDate);