Comparing date

Question

hi ,
I am writting a program in which i take 2 user input for the date in string format ie dd/mm/yyyy.,
1st is taking loan date
2nd is return date
-> now i need to compare them if they are the same date.
-> if they are different . 2/10/2006 and 6/10/2006
i need to increament the date and calculate the charge for the period.
i am doing it in the following manner
String loanDate = new String (stdin.nextLine());
StringTokenizer loanDateString = new StringTokenizer(loanDate,"/");
day = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken());
month = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken())-1;
year = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken());
loandate = Calendar.getInstance();
loandate.set(year,month,day);
String loanReturnDate = new String (stdin.nextLine());
StringTokenizer returnDateString = new StringTokenizer(loanReturnDate,"/");
day = Integer.parseInt(returnDateString.nextToken());
month = Integer.parseInt(returnDateString.nextToken())-1;
year = Integer.parseInt(returnDateString.nextToken());
returnDate = Calendar.getInstance();
returnDate.set(year,month,day);
if(loandate.equals(returnDate)) {
// calculate cost
else {        
while (returnDate.after(loandate)){
//calculate cost
// increament the date
b ut the problem is in "if condition" it never returns true as there is always a time difference ....how do i compare only date and not the time.

Answer 1

When you post code, please wrap it in [code] tags so it's legible.
-> if they are different . 2/10/2006 and 6/10/2006
i need to increament the date and calculate the
charge for the period.What do you mean "increment the date"? I can see what that could mean, but how is that relevant to figuring out the interval?
> String loanDate = new String (stdin.nextLine());That "new String" is unnecessary, assuming that nextLine() returns a String which it probably does.
> StringTokenizer loanDateString = new StringTokenizer(loanDate,"/");
>
day = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken());
month = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken())-1;
year = Integer.parseInt(loanDateString.nextToken());(etc) Rather than doing this you might want to consider using a java.text.SimpleDateFormatter to do the parsing for you.
> loandate = Calendar.getInstance();Having two variables whose names differ only in the case of a single letter is ugly, hard to maintain, and bug-prone.
ut the problem is in "if condition" it never returns
true as there is always a time difference ....how do
i compare only date and not the time.You could compare just the int fields of the year, month and day, and not use Calendar objects at all. Since you're doing the parsing yourself you might as well use them.
Another option however is just to compare whether the return is after the start or not. Use the .after() or before() method (on either Calendar or java.util.Date).
So ultimately I think you should:
1) use java.text.SimpleDateFormat to do the formatting, and then store two Date objects
2) compare the two Date objects using before() or after(), like this:
if (return.after(start))