How to format date / time attributes in rapidminer - rapidminer

Question

I have a .xls file that has 2 columns. One is called "msgdate" which contains values like "20160314" (yyyyMMdd) and another column called "msgtime" which contains values like "111215" (HHmmss). I would like to concatenate these 2 columns as date_time for the data type so I can plot the values. I have tried a few things but get an unparsable date error. Things I've tried:
Import file selecting msgdate as date datatype with a format yyyyMMdd, which works but I can't set any time format during the import without ruining the date format.
Import file selecting msgdate as date datatype with a format yyyyMMdd and setting msgtime as integer then using the Numerical to Date operator however the value msgtime value generated is not correct, results are -> Wed Dec 31 18:01:51 CST 1969). Grateful for any knowledge provided and thank you for taking the time to read this.

Answer 1

The easiest way is to concatenate the two fields into one and then parse out into a single new datetime attribute. I'm assuming the two input fields are nominals already in the following which shows this working.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<process version="7.0.000">
<context>
<input/>
<output/>
<macros/>
</context>
<operator activated="true" class="process" compatibility="7.0.000" expanded="true" name="Process">
<process expanded="true">
<operator activated="true" class="generate_data_user_specification" compatibility="7.0.000" expanded="true" height="68" name="Generate Data by User Specification" width="90" x="112" y="136">
<list key="attribute_values">
<parameter key="msgdate" value=""20160314""/>
<parameter key="msgtime" value=""111215""/>
</list>
<list key="set_additional_roles"/>
</operator>
<operator activated="true" class="generate_attributes" compatibility="7.0.000" expanded="true" height="82" name="Generate Attributes" width="90" x="246" y="136">
<list key="function_descriptions">
<parameter key="datetime" value="msgdate+msgtime"/>
</list>
</operator>
<operator activated="true" class="nominal_to_date" compatibility="7.0.000" expanded="true" height="82" name="Nominal to Date (3)" width="90" x="380" y="136">
<parameter key="attribute_name" value="datetime"/>
<parameter key="date_type" value="date_time"/>
<parameter key="date_format" value="yyyyMMddHHmmss"/>
<parameter key="keep_old_attribute" value="true"/>
</operator>
<connect from_op="Generate Data by User Specification" from_port="output" to_op="Generate Attributes" to_port="example set input"/>
<connect from_op="Generate Attributes" from_port="example set output" to_op="Nominal to Date (3)" to_port="example set input"/>
<connect from_op="Nominal to Date (3)" from_port="example set output" to_port="result 1"/>
<portSpacing port="source_input 1" spacing="0"/>
<portSpacing port="sink_result 1" spacing="0"/>
<portSpacing port="sink_result 2" spacing="0"/>
</process>
</operator>
</process>
Hope this helps to get you along the road.