Dates in JSP page

Question

I have some dates fields on JSP page I want to store data in mysql databse. Can someone tell me how I can format dates as I do for other data types in servlet before I send data to add in databse: such as
For int type data:
String paymentID = request.getParameter("PaymentID")
I format it like this for class Payment.
Payment newPayment(int.parseInt(paymentID)               
how do i work with date fields this is what I Am trying to do:
Code patches....
import java.text.DateFormat;\import java.text.ParseException;
public date date1;
try                               
      date1= format.parse(paymentStartDate);
catch(ParseException pe)
System.out.println("Problem found");
....I do not get any error but it leaves date fields empty because date1 formatting never goes to try... Always say "Problem found on console"
Any help?

Answer 1

I just realized I should post the whole file... here is code of the servlet that recieved dates from JSP and process it.
package admin;
import java.lang.Object.*;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.ParseException;
import data.*;
import business.*;
import javax.servlet.RequestDispatcher;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
public class AddPaymentServlet extends HttpServlet{
     public Date date1;
     public Date date2;
    public DateFormat format;
     public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ServletException{
// Stores user entered Payment information in variables to create new Payment vector
          String paymentID = request.getParameter("paymentID");
          String clientName = request.getParameter("clientName");
         String paymentType = request.getParameter("paymentType");
          String paymentAmount = request.getParameter("paymentAmount");
         String paymentStartDate = request.getParameter("paymentStartDate");
          String paymentExpiryDate = request.getParameter("paymentExpiryDate");
          String paymentDescription = request.getParameter("paymentDescription");
          String paymentState1 = request.getParameter("paymentState"); // use String type of PaymentType
//-----------------------------------Format dates----------------------------------------------------------          
         DateFormat format = DateFormat.getDateTimeInstance(DateFormat.MEDIUM,DateFormat.SHORT);
       //    System.out.println("Date1--->"+date1);
              try
                   {    date1 = format.parse(paymentStartDate);
                    //    System.out.println("Date1--->"+date1);
                 catch(ParseException ps)
                        System.out.println("can't format dates");     
                  try
                   date2 = format.parse(paymentExpiryDate);
              catch(ParseException pe)
                   System.out.println("can't format dates");
// get old Payment object from session
//--------------------------------Send new PAyment Information to Vector Payment in Payment.jave-----------------------------
          Payment newPayment = new Payment(clientName,paymentType,Double.parseDouble(paymentAmount),date1,date2,paymentDescription,paymentState1);
//------------------------------ Call PaymentDB function Add() to store new payment infomration in the databse
         PaymentDB.addRecord(newPayment);
// over-write Payment object in session
          request.getSession().setAttribute("payment",newPayment);
          request.getSession().setAttribute("payments",PaymentDB.readRecords());
//---------------------------------- Send results back to payment.jsp for updated information----------------------
          RequestDispatcher dispatcher = getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/Admin/payments.jsp");
          dispatcher.forward(request, response);
     public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ServletException{
          doGet(request, response);
}