/** * Helper method to set the start date while parsing a date. * * @param firstDate The string based representation of a date (number only). * @param date The <tt>HistoricalDate</tt> object to be updated. */ private void setStartDate(String firstDate, HistoricalDate date) { // create a date instance try { SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy"); if (firstDate.length() < 3) { firstDate = firstDate + "00"; } else if (date.getPrecision() == null) { date.setPrecision(Precision.YEAR); } Date d = formatter.parse(firstDate); date.setStartDate(d); } catch (ParseException e) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block e.printStackTrace(); } }