Convert Android's date Strings to date objects

Question

In Android, the date of every event (such as birthdays and anniversaries) is saved in String format, e.g. \"2011-12-24\".

This is at least the case for my phone. Some ot

Answer 1

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;

SimpleDateFormat myDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("dd/MM/yy");
        Date tempDate;
        try {
            tempDate = myDateFormat.parse("24/12/2011");
              long milliseconds=tempDate.getTime();
              Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), milliseconds+"", 1).show();
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

Answer 2

Android works with date objects. Anytime you need to parse a date from string is because that date has been serialized, most likely in a file. In that case, you would know the format that was used. Date object is used in preferences, date object is used almost everywhere I can think of that relates to shared services, activites, etc. This means, there's almost never a need to parse string from date unless, like I said you're working with serialized source, reading it from a web service etc. If you can tell us your scenario, you might get more specific answer.

You can get the currently set date format like this:

DateFormat dateFormat = android.text.format.DateFormat.getDateFormat(getApplicationContext());