apache/seatunnel · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unsupported datetime format:

Error message

Unsupported datetime format: 

What it means

parseDateTimeString() converts a datetime string to epoch milliseconds by first trying LocalDateTime.parse (ISO-8601 local date-time) and then Instant.parse (ISO-8601 instant, requires 'Z' or offset). If both attempts throw DateTimeParseException, it throws this IllegalArgumentException. The connector only accepts these two ISO-8601 formats for LONG-typed fields fed with datetime strings.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-aerospike/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/aerospike/sink/AerospikeSinkWriter.java:235

                }
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "Expected List type but got: " + value.getClass());
            default:
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported AEROSPIKE data type: " + dataType);
        }
    }

    private long parseDateTimeString(String datetime) {
        try {
            return LocalDateTime.parse(datetime)
                    .atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
                    .toInstant()
                    .toEpochMilli();
        } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
            try {
                return Instant.parse(datetime).toEpochMilli();
            } catch (DateTimeParseException ex) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported datetime format: " + datetime);
            }
        }
    }

    private Optional<Long> tryParseDateTime(String datetime) {
        try {
            return Optional.of(parseDateTimeString(datetime));
        } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
            return Optional.empty();
        }
    }

    private long convertTimestampToLong(Object timestamp) {
        if (timestamp instanceof TemporalAccessor) {
            Instant instant = Instant.from((TemporalAccessor) timestamp);
            return instant.toEpochMilli();
        }
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported timestamp type: " + timestamp.getClass());

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

1. Normalize the datetime string to ISO-8601 before writing: 'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss' for LocalDateTime.parse or 'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ' for Instant.parse.
2. Pre-convert the datetime to epoch milliseconds (a plain numeric string or number) so the LONG branch parses it as a number instead of a datetime.
3. Change the field's type in field_types to STRING to store the raw value rather than converting to a timestamp.
4. Add a transform (e.g. a custom SeaTunnel transform) that reformats the datetime field upstream of the Aerospike sink.

Example fix

// before (value in row)
"10/09/2026 14:30:00"

// after
"2026-09-10T14:30:00"  // or "2026-09-10T14:30:00Z"

boolean isParseableDatetime(String s) {
    try { java.time.LocalDateTime.parse(s); return true; }
    catch (java.time.format.DateTimeParseException ignored) {
        try { java.time.Instant.parse(s); return true; }
        catch (java.time.format.DateTimeParseException e) { return false; }
    }
}

try {
    writer.write(row);
} catch (AerospikeConnectorException e) {
    if (e.getCause() instanceof IllegalArgumentException
            && e.getCause().getMessage().startsWith("Unsupported datetime format")) {
        // normalize or skip the offending record
    } else {
        throw e;
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Writing a row where a field is mapped to AerospikeDataType.LONG but the value is a String in a non-ISO-8601 format (e.g. 'yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss', epoch string is fine but '10-09-2026' is not), so tryParseDateTime -> parseDateTimeString fails both parse attempts.

Common situations: Source data with locale-specific or custom datetime formats (common from CSV/log files); timestamps with only a date ('2026-09-10') which LocalDateTime.parse rejects; non-UTC offsets written in non-ISO style; users assuming arbitrary formats will be auto-detected.

Related errors

• Unsupported AEROSPIKE data type:
• Unsupported timestamp type:
• Value is not a BSON date or timestamp
• Failed to parse OffsetDateTime value: (class: )
• Unable to parse OffsetDateTime from string:

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aaf6cf4551bc4805. Report an issue: GitHub.