public long readLocalDate() throws IOException {
  expectStartTag("date");
  if (localCalendar == null)   localCalendar=Calendar.getInstance();
  long value=parseDate(localCalendar);
  expectEndTag("date");
  return value;
}

public long readLocalDate ( ) throws IOException { expectStartTag ( "date" ) ; if ( localCalendar == null ) localCalendar = Calendar . getInstance ( ) ; long value = parseDate ( localCalendar ) ; expectEndTag ( "date" ) ; return value ; }
reads a date value from the input stream .
