Ok, this is really strange...
so I inserted a language string
echo hikashop_getDate($vote->vote_date, JText::_('HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE'));
and in my language file
HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE="%d %B %Y"
result is always the same: 22.05.2018
these are all other language strings I have on file
HIKASHOP_DATE_FORMAT="%d.%m.%Y"
HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE="%d %B %Y"
HIKASHOP_EXTENDED_DATE_FORMAT="%d.%m.%Y - %H:%M"
the vote / listing.php si definitely the right one, If I insert some text I can see it on frontend, also
when I change
echo hikashop_getDate($vote->vote_date, JText::_('HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE'));
to
echo hikashop_getDate($vote->vote_date, JText::_('HIKASHOP_EXTENDED_DATE_FORMAT'));
the date indeed changed to: 22.05.2018 - 10:23
but as soon as I change it back to
echo hikashop_getDate($vote->vote_date, JText::_('HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE'));
it becomes again: 22.05.2018
so I am confused here...because if I change the language string to
HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE="%Y"
then I correctly see just the year
but as soon as I change it to
HIKASHOP_DATE_VOTE="%d %B %Y"
I see: 22.05.2018
while it should be: 22 May 2018
this is truly a mistery to me!