# Inserting usable timestamps in Mongo **URL:** \ **Category:** Connecting to NoSQL\ **Created:** [November 13, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546 "2014-11-13T23:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hijakk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/59ef9b/32.png) [@hijakk](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/hijakk)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/1 "2014-11-13T23:20:05Z")
I’m going to be inserting and query records via the dreamfactory rest interface into a mongoDB back end. How do I create a date object in my json object, such that I can insert {“next\_appointment”:“2014-11-15T17:30:00”} and have it parsed as a Mongo timestamp? ---
**Author:** ![toddappleton](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/toddappleton/32/159_2.png) [@toddappleton](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/toddappleton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/2 "2014-11-14T19:30:00Z")
Try this: {“next\_appointment”:new Date(“2014-11-15T17:30:00”)} ---
**Author:** ![hijakk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/59ef9b/32.png) [@hijakk](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/hijakk)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/3 "2014-11-14T20:02:07Z")
I get back ``` { "error": [ { "message": "JSON Error: Syntax error, malformed JSON", "code": 500 } ] } ``` When I post ``` {"next_appointment":new Date("2014-11-15T17:30:00"} ``` against my endpoint [https://localhost:443/rest/test\_app\_mongo/appointment](https://localhost:443/rest/test_app_mongo/appointment) ---
**Author:** ![toddappleton](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/toddappleton/32/159_2.png) [@toddappleton](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/toddappleton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/4 "2014-11-14T20:23:21Z")
You are missing a closing paren on Date(). ---
**Author:** ![hijakk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/59ef9b/32.png) [@hijakk](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/hijakk)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/5 "2014-11-14T20:37:37Z")
Darn - I am indeed. Just tried ``` {"next_appointment":new Date("2014-11-15T17:30:00")} ``` and still go the same 500 json syntax error ---
**Author:** ![toddappleton](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/toddappleton/32/159_2.png) [@toddappleton](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/toddappleton)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/6 "2014-11-14T20:58:14Z")
If you can provide the complete request and response data that would be helpful. The preferred way to create records is to wrap them with a record[] wrapper. Here is the data I posted to my MongoDB service and I got no errors. How are you making the HTTP call? ``` POST /rest/dfmongo/todo { "record": [ { "name": "test", "complete": false, "next_appointment": new Date("2014-11-15T17:30:00") } ] } ``` ---
**Author:** ![hijakk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/59ef9b/32.png) [@hijakk](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/hijakk)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/7 "2014-11-19T17:36:23Z")
Apologies, I didn’t get an email update when the last comment happened I was using the dreamfactory swagger API interface and attempting to do exactly ``` POST https://localhost:443/rest/test_app_mongo/appointment {"next_appointment":new Date("2014-11-15T17:30:00")} ``` Which comes back with: ``` { "error": [ { "message": "JSON Error: Syntax error, malformed JSON", "code": 500 } ] } ``` I hadn’t run into documentation on the record wrapper, so I think that’s what I was looking for. I’m still not exactly sure, though, as running through the swagger API interface I’m posting ``` POST https://localhost:443/rest/test_app_mongo/appointment {"record":[{"name":"test", "next_appointment":new Date("2014-11-15T17:30:00")}]} ``` and I’m getting back a 500 of malformed JSON, still: ``` { "error": [ { "message": "JSON Error: Syntax error, malformed JSON", "code": 500 } ] } ``` It’s looking like we’re probably going to just use device based milisecond encoded dates, but this is nagging at me a bit. ---
**Author:** ![toddappleton](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/toddappleton/32/159_2.png) [@toddappleton](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/toddappleton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/8 "2014-11-19T18:33:33Z")
The API Docs interface can’t call JavaScript functions so when you say new Date(“2014-11-15T17:30:00”) that does not work in the API Docs. If you write an app with JavaScript that calls the REST API it will work. ---
**Author:** ![hijakk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/59ef9b/32.png) [@hijakk](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/hijakk)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/9 "2014-11-19T18:51:26Z")
Ah, I see - so there’s no way to insert Mongo dates using just the basic REST API? ---
**Author:** ![toddappleton](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/community.dreamfactory.com/toddappleton/32/159_2.png) [@toddappleton](https://community.dreamfactory.com/u/toddappleton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.dreamfactory.com/t/inserting-usable-timestamps-in-mongo/546/10 "2014-11-19T19:02:21Z")
You can but the dates must be in the correct format. From the API docs you can POST {“name”:“1212”,“complete”:false,“next\_appointment”:“2014-11-15T17:30:00.000Z”} This eliminates the need for ‘new Date()’.