public static Date toDate(final String dateText) throws Exception {

        Date date = null;
        if (dateText.length() > 0) {
            date = Z_DATETIME_FORMAT.parse(dateText.trim());
            if (!validateDate(date)) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException();
            }
        }
        return date;
    }
public static Date toDate ( final String dateText ) throws Exception { Date date = null ; if ( dateText . length ( ) > 0 ) { date = Z_DATETIME_FORMAT . parse ( dateText . trim ( ) ) ; if ( ! validateDate ( date ) ) { throw new IllegalArgumentException ( ) ; } } return date ; }
Parses the provided String as a date.<p>

First try to parse the String with the given time format.<p>

If that fails try to parse the date with the browser settings.<p>

@param dateText the string representing a date

@return the date created, or null if there was a parse error

@throws Exception in case the text can not be parsed to a date