diff --git a/java/mdsobjects/src/main/java/MDSplus/Tree.java b/java/mdsobjects/src/main/java/MDSplus/Tree.java
index f716b6346a..a50df78a18 100644
--- a/java/mdsobjects/src/main/java/MDSplus/Tree.java
+++ b/java/mdsobjects/src/main/java/MDSplus/Tree.java
@@ -320,9 +320,10 @@ public boolean isReadOnly() throws MdsException
 	 *
 	 * @param date
 	 */
-	public void setViewDate(java.util.Date date) throws MdsException
+	public void setViewDate(java.time.LocalDateTime date) throws MdsException
 	{
-		setTreeViewDate(new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss").format(date));
+		java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter formatter = java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss",Locale.ENGLISH);
+		setTreeViewDate(date.format(formatter));
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/java/mdsobjects/src/test/java/MDSplus/MdsTreeTest.java b/java/mdsobjects/src/test/java/MDSplus/MdsTreeTest.java
index bc9cf2d748..0810b58f1c 100644
--- a/java/mdsobjects/src/test/java/MDSplus/MdsTreeTest.java
+++ b/java/mdsobjects/src/test/java/MDSplus/MdsTreeTest.java
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ public void testData() throws Exception
 		// test version
 		node = tree.getNode("versioned");
 		node.putData(new MDSplus.Int32(5552368));
-		final java.util.Date currDate = java.util.Calendar.getInstance().getTime();
+		final java.time.LocalDateTime currDate = java.time.LocalDateTime.now();
 		Thread.sleep(2000);
 		node.putData(new MDSplus.Float64(555.2368));
 		node = tree.getNode("versioned");