Else without if problem

Question

Hi All,
just wodering if someone could help a noob with and else without if problem. The compiler seems to have a problem with the last else of the boolea. Thanks again in advance:
static boolean Enterdate (boolean valid)
          System.out.println("Please Enter Student Date of Birth in ddmmyyyy format");
          String date = DosInput.getString();
          if (date.length() == 8)
               String extractday = date.substring(0,2);
               int day = Integer.parseInt(extractday);
               String extractmonth = date.substring(2,4);
               int month = Integer.parseInt(extractmonth);
               System.out.println(month);
               String extractyear = date.substring(4,8);
               int theYear = Integer.parseInt(extractyear);
               System.out.println(theYear);
               if (theYear >= 2004)
               valid = false;
               int maxMonthDays = 0;
               switch (month)
               {//start of switch
               case 1:
               case 3:
               case 5:
               case 7:
               case 8:
               case 10:
               case 12: //this will be executed when all the above are true - no breaks !!
                    maxMonthDays = 31;
                    break;
               case 4:
               case 6:
               case 9:
               case 11: //this will be executed when the above 3 are true -no breaks!!
                    maxMonthDays = 30;
                    break;
               case 2://the month is february
                    maxMonthDays = 28;
                    if(theYear %400 ==0)
                    {System.out.println("leap year - div 400");
                         maxMonthDays = 29;
                    else//year divisible by 4 and not divisible by 100
                         if((theYear %4 == 0) && !(theYear %100 == 0))
                         //all these brackets are needed !!
                    {System.out.println("leap year - div 4");
                           maxMonthDays = 29;
                    else
                         System.out.println("not a leap year ");
                         break;
               }//end of switch block
               else
                    valid = false;
return (valid);
     } //end of method

Answer 1

What you should be doing is returning false immediately if the input string is not eight characters in length and all digits. (Both are prerequisites for the proper functioning of your app.)
A couple more suggestions won't hurt:
(1) A method should do one thing and do it well. Your method is doing two things: taking input from a user and checking to see if a string represents a valid date. You can never use this method in situations where you'd like to validate a string as a date and not take input from a user. It cuts down on the usefulness of your method. Get that input stuff out of there and have the method just validate a string as a date.
(2) The name of the method should immediately suggest what it does. Ditch that Enterdate name and call it isValidDate. Make sure you follow the Java coding standards and start the name with a lower case letter.
(3) That switch statement sure is big and ugly. Why not just have an array of integer values, one per month?
(4) I'd suggest another method, isLeapYear, that will take an int and return true if the number represents a leap year, false if not. You might find it handy to call elsewhere.
It's called decomposition. Learn how to do it.
This must be a school assignment. You're required to do this a certain way.
I think I can write this method in many fewer lines. I'd do it like this:
public boolean isValidDate(final String dateStr)
    try
        java.text.DateFormat formatter = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("ddmmyyyy");
        java.util.Date dateValue = formatter.parse(dateStr);
        return true;
    catch (java.text.ParseException e)
        return false;
}MOD