Error java.util.Date.format() is applicable for argument types: (String) values: dd-MMM-yyyy

Issue Description

User developed a JRXML report with Groovy language which included a Text field element with expression

$P{frm_date_pm}.equals(null)? "N/A" : $P{frm_date_pm}.format("dd-MMM-yyyy")

The report worked as expected in TIBCO JasperReports^® Server v.7.1, but after upgrade to v.7.5.0 the report fails with error

No signature of method: java.util.Date.format() is applicable for argument types: (String) values: [dd-MMM-yyyy]

What's the reason of the error and how to fix it?

Resolution

The issue related to upgraded Groovy library:

In TIBCO JasperReports^® Server v.7.1, Groovy v.2.4.15 used

In TIBCO JasperReports^® Server v.7.5, Groovy v.2.5.7 used

Date.format() is a method added by Groovy to java.util.Date.

Looking at the source, in 2.5.x  methods are not added to java.util.Date by default anymore.

It's documented in release notes for Groovy 2.5.x:

Release notes for Groovy 2.5 - Breaking Changes

The extension methods for the java.util.Date class are now in a separate groovy-dateutil module which isn’t included by default when using the groovy-all pom dependency.

A possible workaround is to manually place groovy-dateutil-2.5.7.jar library into

webappsjasperserver-proWEB-INFlib

and restart the server

https://dl.bintray.com/groovy/maven/apache-groovy-binary-2.5.7.zip

Solution tested with TIBCO JasperReports^® Server v.7.5.0

AS-20200324, case 01853647