private AttributedCharacterIterator formatToCharacterIteratorImpl(Date date) { StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer(); ArrayList<FieldPosition> fields = new ArrayList<FieldPosition>(); // format the date, and find fields formatImpl(date, buffer, null, fields); // create and AttributedString with the formatted buffer AttributedString as = new AttributedString(buffer.toString()); // add DateFormat field attributes to the AttributedString for (FieldPosition pos : fields) { Format.Field attribute = pos.getFieldAttribute(); as.addAttribute(attribute, attribute, pos.getBeginIndex(), pos.getEndIndex()); } // return the CharacterIterator from AttributedString return as.getIterator(); }