question: public static DateTime toDateSimple ( String str , TimeZone timeZone ) throws PageException { DateTime dt = toDateSimple ( str , CONVERTING_TYPE_OFFSET , true , timeZone , null ) ; if ( dt == null ) throw new ExpressionException ( "can't cast [" + str + "] to date value" ) ; return dt ; }
target:  converts a Object to a DateTime Object, returns null if invalid string