To compare two user entered dates

Question

HI FRIENDS
here is my code. When i try to print the user entered date (dd/MM/yyyy)(which i am storing in a string) the program dispalys nothing. and everey time i enter a valid date it displas "invalid From date entered ". I need to store the user entered date into a string because i need that for further use. All my intesion is to get two dates from user in dd/MM/yyyy. Strore them in certain variable. Check if they are valid or not. and make sure todate is either equal or greater than fromdate. Please help me to solve this problem.
public class EDTDateValidation extends JFrame implements ActionListener{
private JLabel fromlabel;
private JLabel tolabel;
private JTextField fromtxt;
private JTextField totxt;
private String fmt ="dd/MM/yyyy";
private java.lang.String fromdate;
private java.lang.String todate;
private JButton buttonOK;
private JButton buttonCancel;
private Date theDate;
private Date date1;
private Date date2;
private JPanel mainPanel;
SimpleDateFormat dtformat = new SimpleDateFormat(fmt);
public EDTDateValidation(){
super("Date Validation");
dtformat.setLenient(false);
mainPanel=new JPanel();
mainPanel.setLayout(null);
fromlabel = new JLabel("From Date");
tolabel = new JLabel("To Date");
buttonOK = new JButton("OK");
buttonCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
fromdate = new String();
todate = new String();
fromtxt = new JTextField(10);
totxt = new JTextField(10);
fromdate = fromtxt.getText();
todate = totxt.getText();
mainPanel.add(fromlabel);
fromlabel.setBounds(20,20,50,15);
mainPanel.add(tolabel);
tolabel.setBounds(20,50,50,15);
mainPanel.add(fromtxt);
fromtxt.setBounds(90,20,130,20);
mainPanel.add(totxt);
totxt. setBounds(90,50,130,20);
mainPanel.add(buttonOK);
buttonOK.setBounds(70,80,71,23);
mainPanel.add(buttonCancel);
buttonCancel.setBounds(150,80,71,23);
buttonOK.addActionListener(this);
buttonCancel.addActionListener(this);
setContentPane(mainPanel);
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(247,140);
setResizable(false);
//pack();
public static void main(String args[]) {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");
catch(Exception e) {
System.err.println("Could not load Look and Feel" + e);
EDTDateValidation edtDateVal = new EDTDateValidation();
edtDateVal.setVisible(true);
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(e.getSource() == buttonOK){
System.out.println(fromtxt.getText());
// System.out.println(SimpleDateFormat.format(fromdate));
System.out.println(fromdate); //THIS DISPLAYS BLANK
System.out.println(todate); //THIS ASWELL
try {
Date date = null;
date = dtformat.parse(fromdate);
System.out.println("valid From date entered!");
catch(Exception f) {
System.out.println("Invalid From date entered!");
// textField1.setText("");
return;
try {
Date date = null;
date = dtformat.parse(todate);
System.out.println("valid TO date entered!");
catch(Exception f) {
System.out.println("Invalid To date entered!");
// textField1.setText("");
return;
}

Answer 1

Judging from your code, you've got a lot of learning
to do. I suggest you
split it up:
1. Write non-GUI code that attempts to parse, compare
and format dates.
2. Write simpler GUI code to capture ordinary
strings, for example, and
worry about dates after you can do something simpler.And standard instructions: Use code tags.