Using Dates in Search¶

There is a special consideration for the whereClause-based queries which reference a column of the DATETIME data type. Typically a DATETIME column is referenced in a comparison against a scalar value describing a specific date or a timestamp. The scalar value can be a number of milliseconds since the epoch (UNIX timestamp as milliseconds) or a string. Backendless supports a variety of date formats for the latter. For example, the queries below will find all the objects which were updated after March 23rd, 2015:

updated > '23-Mar-2015'

updated > '03/23/2015'

updated > 1427068800000

Comparison Operators¶

Backendless supports the following date comparison operators:

Column's value is after the specified date/time: use either > or the after keyword:

birthDate > '22-Dec-1980'

birthDate after 1427068800000

Column's value is before the specified date/time: use either < or the before keyword:

birthDate < '22-Dec-1980'

birthDate before 1427068800000

Column's value is either at or after the specified date/time: use either => or the at or after keyword:

birthDate >= '28-10-1988'

birthDate at or after '10/28/1988 00:00:00 GMT-0200'

Column's value is either at or before the specified date/time: use either <= or the at or before keyword:

birthDate >= '28-10-1988'

birthDate at or after '10/28/1988 00:00:00 GMT-0200'

Note: the whereClause-based queries can be tested in the Backendless Console with the SQL Search turned on.

Supported Date Formats¶

Date/time string values may be in any of the following formats. The pattern letters have the same definition as in Java's SimpleDateFormat:

EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss 'GMT'z
MM.dd.yyyy HH:mm:ss 'GMT'z
MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss 'GMT'z
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss z
MM.dd.yyyy HH:mm:ss z
MM.dd.yyyy HH:mm:ss
MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss
MM.dd.yyyy
MM-dd-yyyy
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss 'GMT'Z
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm
MM/dd/yyyy
dd/MMM/yyyy
dd-MMM-yyyy
EEEEE, d MMMMM yyyy
yyyy/MM/d/HH:mm:ss
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss
EEEEE, MMMMM d, yyyy
MMMMM d, yyyy
yyyy M d
yyyyMMMd
yyyy-MMM-d
yyyy-M-d, E
'Date' yyyy-MM-dd
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ
yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mmZ
yyyy-MM-dd
yyyy-'W'w
yyyy-DDD
d MMMMM yyyy, HH'h' mm'm' ss's'

Example¶

Using Untyped Objects

var whereClause = "updated after " + timestamp;
var queryBuilder = Backendless.DataQueryBuilder.create().setWhereClause( whereClause );

// Non-Blocking API
Backendless.Data.of( "Contact" ).find( queryBuilder )
 .then( function( result ) {
   // result is an array of plain JS objects
  })
 .catch( function( error ) {
  });

// Blocking API
var result = Backendless.Data.of( "Contact" ).findSync( queryBuilder );

Custom Class/Function

// define constructor function first:
function Contact() {
  // define Contact properties here
}

var whereClause = "updated after " + timestamp;
var queryBuilder = Backendless.DataQueryBuilder.create().setWhereClause( whereClause );

// Non-Blocking API
Backendless.Data.of( Contact ).find( queryBuilder )
 .then( function( result ) {
   // result is an array of Contact objects
  })
 .catch( function( error ) {
  });

// Blocking API
// result will be an array of Contact objects
var result = Backendless.Data.of( Contact ).findSync( queryBuilder );