public static Date stringToDate(String dateText) throws ParseException {
  SimpleDateFormat formatter=new SimpleDateFormat(ISO_DATE_FORMAT);
  formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("GMT"));
  return formatter.parse(dateText);
}

public static Date stringToDate ( String dateText ) throws ParseException { SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat ( ISO_DATE_FORMAT ) ; formatter . setTimeZone ( TimeZone . getTimeZone ( "GMT" ) ) ; return formatter . parse ( dateText ) ; }
converts a iso date string to a date object
