Sitecore SOLR error: Invalid Date in Date Math String

There seems to be an issue with certain combinations of Sitecore, SOLR and the local machine datetime settings. This is the error:

ManagedPoolThread #11 12:20:50 INFO Job started: Index_Update_IndexName=sitecore_master_index
ManagedPoolThread #11 12:20:50 ERROR Exception
Exception: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException
Message: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
Source: mscorlib
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object[] parameters, Object[] arguments)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
at Sitecore.Reflection.ReflectionUtil.InvokeMethod(MethodInfo method, Object[] parameters, Object obj)
at Sitecore.Jobs.JobRunner.RunMethod(JobArgs args)
at (Object , Object[] )
at Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline.Run(PipelineArgs args)
at Sitecore.Jobs.Job.ThreadEntry(Object state)

Nested Exception

Exception: SolrNet.Exceptions.SolrConnectionException
Message: <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<response>
<lst name=”responseHeader”><int name=”status”>400</int><int name=”QTime”>46</int></lst><lst name=”error”><str name=”msg”>Invalid Date in Date Math String:’2017-03-20T13.56.31Z'</str><int name=”code”>400</int></lst>
</response>

Source: SolrNet
at SolrNet.Impl.SolrConnection.PostStream(String relativeUrl, String contentType, Stream content, IEnumerable`1 parameters)
at SolrNet.Impl.SolrConnection.Post(String relativeUrl, String s)
at SolrNet.Impl.SolrBasicServer`1.SendAndParseHeader(ISolrCommand cmd)
at Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrBatchUpdateContext.AddRange(IEnumerable`1 group, Int32 groupSize)
at Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrBatchUpdateContext.Commit()
at Sitecore.ContentSearch.AbstractSearchIndex.PerformUpdate(IEnumerable`1 indexableInfo, IndexingOptions indexingOptions)

Nested Exception

Exception: System.Net.WebException
Message: The remote server returned an error: (400) Bad Request.
Source: System
at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
at HttpWebAdapters.Adapters.HttpWebRequestAdapter.GetResponse()
at SolrNet.Impl.SolrConnection.GetResponse(IHttpWebRequest request)
at SolrNet.Impl.SolrConnection.PostStream(String relativeUrl, String contentType, Stream content, IEnumerable`1 parameters)

The error is thrown by SOLR when a datetime string have an invalid format. SOLR only allows datetime strings in the format of YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ.

Please note that in the error message above, the format is in fact wrong, as the time contains . instead of :

• Wrong: 2017-03-20T13.56.31Z
• Correct: 2017-03-20T13:56:31Z

My machine is configured so the time format contains . not :, and that is why SOLR gets the wrong format.

Sitecore have addressed this in patch 178247, where they modify the default System.DateTime converter to ignore any local culture info. The configuration change is simple:

<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:set="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/set/">
  <sitecore>
    <contentSearch>
      <indexConfigurations>
        <defaultSolrIndexConfiguration>
          <indexFieldStorageValueFormatter>
            <converters>
              <converter handlesType="System.DateTime" typeConverter="Sitecore.ContentSearch.Converters.IndexFieldUTCDateTimeValueConverter, Sitecore.ContentSearch" set:typeConverter="Sitecore.Support.ContentSearch.Converters.IndexFieldUTCDateTimeValueConverter, Sitecore.Support.178247"/>
            </converters>
          </indexFieldStorageValueFormatter>
        </defaultSolrIndexConfiguration>
      </indexConfigurations>
    </contentSearch>
  </sitecore>
</configuration>

And the code change very small:

namespace Sitecore.Support.ContentSearch.Converters
{
  public class IndexFieldUTCDateTimeValueConverter : IndexFieldUtcDateTimeValueConverter
  {
    public override object ConvertTo(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, object value, Type destinationType)
    {
      culture = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
      return base.ConvertTo(context, culture, value, destinationType);
    }
  }
}

Thanks to Sitecore support for the patch.

MORE TO READ:

• Sitecore 8.1 and Solr6.6.0 error while rebuilding the search index from Sitecore
• Invalid Date exception | SOLR from StackOverflow