Date Formatting, JSTL tags and the Spring framework

Question

Hi all, i have a small problem and i am hoping maybe someone here knows the solution. I am using a date field in a search page, binding it using a customDateEditor, and using a validator for correct formatting. The problem i have is this: i am using the <spring:bind> tag so that the page will return with the value that caused a validation fault. But even if the page succeeds it is submitted back onto itself, this time carrying the search results. But this time the date field will return in a completly different format. I cannot use the <fmt:formatDate> tag because of <spring:bind>. How can i register a "reverse" bind editor if you will, something that will print my data according to a specific format depending on the class?
Code snippet follows :
<spring:bind path="filesRequest.fileEndDateSearch">
<input type="text" id="fileEndDateSearch" name="fileEndDateSearch" class="txtBox" value="<fmt:formatDate value="${status.value}" type="date" pattern="yyyy-MM-dd" />"/>
</spring:bind>
Using <fmt:formatDate> for the ${status.value} will cause an exception in case the validator fails, as the format date tag will try to parse the erroneous input.
Just in case i was not that clear in the first paragraphs, here's exactly what i'm trying to achieve: using the Spring framework i want to design a search page that submits back onto itself(with or without some search results) that takes advantage of the validator, the <spring:bind> tag (that is to say, if the user submits some erroneous data it is returned to him in the corresponding field so he can correct it) and somehow should format the data it receives from the form according to a specific format.

Answer 1

If you don't want the default localized version, I think you might have to do your own logic for how to display the dates.
<fmt:formatDate value="${now}" dateStyle="SHORT"/> might be close... but
with the following you can set the patterns to what you want. No automagic though :(
<fmt:formatDate value="${now}" pattern="MM-dd-yyyy"/>