DateFormat.parse() reads 12:00:00 as 00:00:00?

Question

Hi, i have a method, which uses DateFormat.parse() function, and i want to check whether a date and time input is valid. as you can see from the following code; i have defined the format as (dd-mm-yyyy at hh:mm:ss). the problem is, if i pass a string as (dd-mm-yyyy at 12:21:23), the method changes hour field to '00'. i.e., the line denoted as LINE N in the code prints out 'dd-mm-yyyy at 00:21:23'. i have tested other hours and they are all fine, 00 is interpreted as 00, 24 is 00 which is fine, but 12 is also parsed to 00.... any way to change this please?
Many thanks!
public boolean isValidDate(String dt)
        boolean isValid=false;
        DateFormat datef=new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy 'at' hh:mm:ss",Locale.UK);
        java.util.Date d = new java.util.Date();
        try{
            d=datef.parse(dt);
            //////////////////////  LINE N //////////////////////////////////////////
            System.out.println("is this right"+d.toString());
            /////////////////////  LINE N //////////////////////////////////////////
            int hr = d.getHours();
            System.out.println("This is the hour "+hr);
            if(hr<=18&&hr>=9)
                isValid=true;
                System.out.println("hour ok");
            else{System.out.println("hour not ok");}
        catch(ParseException pe)
            isValid=false;
        return isValid;       
    }

Answer 1

use gregoriancalendar instead
-->
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Greg
orianCalendar.htmlTrue.
@OP. You should never call getHours() on a date object, you should always use a Calendar.
Kaj