The default constructor for DateUtils looks like this:
public DateUtils() {
HttpServletRequest request = ServletActionContext.getRequest();
User user = AuthFactory.getSessionUser(request);
timeZone = LocaleUtils.getTimeZone(request, user);
locale = LocaleUtils.getUserLocale(request, user);
}
and AuthFactory.getSessionUser(request) simply gets the session for the request and checks for an auth token, which is where the NPE is happening from your previous log.
Starting over, we might be able to do this much easier. What if you ignore StringUtils all together. Since you already have a request object and a user, try simply creating a new DateUtils object with the constructor (request, user). Then add that initialized date utils object to your properties in the community everywhere servlet. From the ftl, simply call the method displayFriendly(date). Together, it would look something like this in the loadProperties method of CommunityEverywhereSerlvet:
properties.put("dateUtils", new DateUtils(request, user));
and in community-everywhere-content.ftl
${dateUtils.displayFriendly(message.modificationDate?date)}
Let me know if that works for you.
