Date difference calculation - help!

Question

hey people, i've got the below method, i'm trying to calculate the difference between two dates. the calculation is wrong as it is outputing the wrong duration... can anyone help?
public int getDuration(Date startDate,Date endDate)
GregorianCalendar start = new GregorianCalendar();
start.setTime(startDate);
GregorianCalendar end = new GregorianCalendar();
start.setTime(endDate);
long diff = 0L;
if(start.getTime().before(end.getTime()) == true)
diff = end.getTimeInMillis() - start.getTimeInMillis();
diff = diff/(24*60*60*1000);
Long L = new Long(diff);
return L.intValue();
THanks, Ian

Answer 1

In the mean time, a couple of stylisitc suggestions:
if(start.getTime().before(end.getTime()) == true)
// == true is redundant and cluttersome
if(start.getTime().before(end.getTime()))
Long L = new Long(diff);
return L.intValue();I'd suggest returning a long, rather than an int. If you insist on returning an int, because you're sure that the number of days will never be more than Integer.MAX_VALUE, then add an assertion that its not.
assert diff <= Integer.MAX_VALUE : diff + " too big";The Long is overkill. If you do have a small enough value, just do return (int)diff;