Question

In my web application I am currently using a custom DateUtil class to convert java.util.Date to String and vice versa. I am doing this only to convert to a default pattern dd/MM/YYYY. This is the only date format the entire application needs. Now there are lot of input fields, where date values are selected using a calender. I am currently converting this String value to java.util.Date using the DateUtil package before posting to database and then while displaying this date in jsp I am using jstl <fmt:formateDate> tag to convert format to dd/MM/YYYY.

Is there any way that I can set a default date pattern for the web-application. Atleast new Date().toString() should get printed in default(dd/MM/YYYY) format.

Answer 1

If I understood correctly, this is the way it goes now:

1. Your user sends a date to your
   server as a String through a form
   field.
2. You parse the String to a Date
   object (I’m guessing you do it with
   SimpleDateFormat or similar).
3. You display the Date object’s date
   back to the user as a string,
   formatted with JSTL tags.

And you want it to go something like this:

1. Same as before
2. Same as before
3. You display the Date object’s date back to the user using the Date object’s toString() method.

I’d say these are nearly similar in effort, but I’d also be inclined to use the JSTL formatter when displaying the dates.

I’d suggest that you stay with your current implementation. Just move your default date pattern to a class as a constant:

public class WebConstants {
    public static final String DEFAULT_DATE_FORMAT = "dd/MM/yyyy";
}

And use it with the formatting:

<fmt:formatDate value="${mybean.date}" pattern="<%=WebConstants.DEFAULT_DATE_PATTERN%>" />