# 7.8.2: log flooded by "'dateFormat' function expected a 'date' first argument, but got null tag-provider=default"

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** ignition79\
**Created:** [September 24, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505 "2019-09-24T13:29:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lorenzo.milesi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lorenzo.milesi/32/10045_2.png) [@lorenzo.milesi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lorenzo.milesi)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/1 "2019-09-24T13:29:40Z")

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Hi.

On our 7.9.12 server the wrapper.log file is literally flooded by the message above:

```auto
'dateFormat' function expected a 'date' first argument, but got null tag-provider=default

```

I was pointed to [this](http://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/isnull-in-expression-binding-with-no-effect/14053) forum thread but I didn’t understand where I should apply that _patch_. Is that the correct solution? How to fix the warning?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/2 "2019-09-24T13:32:13Z")

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You are getting this in your gateway because some expression tag is getting something invalid as a date. You’ll have to search your tags for the problem expression.

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**Author:** ![jramirez3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@jramirez3](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jramirez3)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/3 "2020-08-21T16:00:30Z")

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Is there any way to find this info?  
You would think the Gateway could tell you where the error is happening so you can fix it because when you 300,000+ tags, its not really logical to look through them for this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/4 "2020-08-21T16:17:28Z")

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Is this 7.8.2 or 7.9.12 ?

But I’d export all the tags as XML and use a proper code text editor to search for dateFormat(.

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/5 "2020-08-21T16:24:48Z")

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In 8.x I think you could set the logger for “tags.execution.actors.expr” to DEBUG and start seeing execution failures in the gateway logs that have a value set for the “tag” key.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jramirez3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@jramirez3](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jramirez3)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/6 "2020-08-21T18:39:25Z")

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Its 7.9.12.  
Would a try statement prevent this from happening? Or do i need to use isNull?

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**Author:** ![rpavlicek](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/rpavlicek/32/55868_2.png) [@rpavlicek](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/rpavlicek)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/7-8-2-log-flooded-by-dateformat-function-expected-a-date-first-argument-but-got-null-tag-provider-default/28505/7 "2023-09-19T15:56:41Z")

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Using **isNull** around the parameter works here, as the **try** statement still produces the error in an expression. Doesn't matter if the try was around the parameter or whole expression, still produced the error.

Resurrected this thread to answer this in case anyone else comes across it.