Here you can find the source of toDate(Object value)
public static java.sql.Date toDate(Object value) throws ParseException
//package com.java2s; import java.text.*; public class Main { public static DateFormat OUT_DATE_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat( "dd/MM/yyyy"); public static DateFormat OUT_TIME_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat( "H:mm:ss"); public static DateFormat OUT_DATETIME_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat( "d/M/yyyy H:mm:ss"); public static DateFormat OUT_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat( "d/M/yy H:mm:ss.SSS"); public static DateFormat IN_DATE_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat("d/M/yy"); public static DateFormat IN_TIME_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat( "H:mm:ss"); // w ww .j a va 2 s . com /** * Convert an Object to a Date. */ public static java.sql.Date toDate(Object value) throws ParseException { if (value == null) { return null; } if (value instanceof java.sql.Date) { return (java.sql.Date) value; } if (value instanceof String) { if ("".equals((String) value)) { return null; } return new java.sql.Date(IN_DATE_FORMAT.parse((String) value) .getTime()); } return new java.sql.Date(IN_DATE_FORMAT.parse(value.toString()) .getTime()); } /** * Convert an Object to a Time, without an Exception */ public static java.sql.Time getTime(Object value) { try { return toTime(value); } catch (ParseException pe) { pe.printStackTrace(); return null; } } /** * Convert an Object to a String using Dates */ public static String toString(Object date) { if (date == null) { return null; } if (java.sql.Timestamp.class.isAssignableFrom(date.getClass())) { return OUT_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT.format(date); } if (java.sql.Time.class.isAssignableFrom(date.getClass())) { return OUT_TIME_FORMAT.format(date); } if (java.sql.Date.class.isAssignableFrom(date.getClass())) { return OUT_DATE_FORMAT.format(date); } if (java.util.Date.class.isAssignableFrom(date.getClass())) { return OUT_DATETIME_FORMAT.format(date); } throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported type " + date.getClass()); } /** * Convert an Object to a Time. */ public static java.sql.Time toTime(Object value) throws ParseException { if (value == null) { return null; } if (value instanceof java.sql.Time) { return (java.sql.Time) value; } if (value instanceof String) { if ("".equals((String) value)) { return null; } return new java.sql.Time(IN_TIME_FORMAT.parse((String) value) .getTime()); } return new java.sql.Time(IN_TIME_FORMAT.parse(value.toString()) .getTime()); } }