public static char toCharValue(String str) throws PageException {
  if (str.length() > 0)   return str.charAt(0);
  throw new ExpressionException("can't cast empty string to a char");
}

public static char toCharValue ( String str ) throws PageException { if ( str . length ( ) > 0 ) return str . charAt ( 0 ) ; throw new ExpressionException ( "can't cast empty string to a char" ) ; }
cast a object to a char value ( primitive value type )
