DateTimeParse - why does this not work?

For info, DateTimeConverter works (see below). So how do I do this using function(s) in the Text Editor?

The specified format does not correspond to the input format. Try:

@DateTimeParse(3-Jun-2020,%d-%b-%Y,repair)

Result: 20200603

If you need a specific output format, you need to chain it with the DateTimeFormat:

@DateTimeFormat(@DateTimeParse(3-Jun-2020,%d-%b-%Y,repair),%Y-%m-%d)

Result: 2020-06-03

Also look at the documentation:

https://docs.safe.com/fme/html/FME_Desktop_Documentation/FME_ReadersWriters/!Transformer_Parameters/Date-Time-Functions.htm

Hi @david_r I have been looking at the documentation. The examples are pretty basic and I couldn't see anything that tells you how to parse/format AND convert to a different date format. But I tried your suggestion in the comment above and that works, so thank you :-) 

If you intend to convert "3 Jun 2020" to "20200603" for example, the expression you quoted is a bit redundant, this expression should work as well.

@DateTimeFormat(@DateTimeParse(@Value(Col2),%d %b %Y,repair),%Y%m%d)

Will that work on full month names? Maybe the "3 JunE 2020" example wasn't the best one. My source date values are like this:

4 January 2020

15 February 2020

I have assumed that I need to trim the month text down to 3 characters before doing anything else.

As per the documentation, %b corresponds to the abbreviated, 3-letter English month name. 

For the full (not abbreviated) English month name, use %B in stead (upper case).

Ah!  I was looking for that in the documentation but obviously missed it.  So I should be able to simplify my code to what Takashi suggests with that amendment...

@DateTimeFormat(@DateTimeParse(@Value(Col2),%d %B %Y,repair),%Y%m%d)

Or even shorter, based on my first reply:

@DateTimeParse(@Value(Col2),%d %B %Y,repair)

DateTimeParse will return the FME datetime format, meaning that you don't have to specifically format it as such.