java.sql.Date math

[Patrick Mallahan]

okay I need to know if there is any way to find the difference in days between two java.sql.Date variables? It can also be java.util.Date as well because i convert it to that in my code.
[ July 12, 2005: Message edited by: Patrick Mallahan ]

[Christopher Elkins]

Use a java.util.Calendar or subclass thereof. It provides that functionality.

[Patrick Mallahan]

what method in calender do you use? and where can i find thereof?

[Ulf Dittmer]

You can construct two Calendar objects using the fields from java.sql.Date, and then get their difference in milliseconds using getTimeInMillis(). From that it's easy to calculate the difference in days.
The API documentation is at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Calendar.html
and http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/sql/Date.html

[Christopher Elkins]

java.util.GregorianCalendar is the only subclass (as of 1.4.2). I'd set two calendar objects using your two dates (java.util.Date):
GregorianCalendar c1 = new GregorianCalendar();
GregorianCalendar c2 = new GregorianCalendar();

c1.setTime(dateA);
c2.setTime(dateB);

You can then retrieve the day of the year from those calendar objects as an int:
int d1 = c1.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR);
int d2 = c2.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_YEAR);

Subtracting one from the other will give you the difference in days between the two dates:
int diff = d2 - d1;

This should work as long as the dates are within the same year. A little extra tweaking should make it work across years. Hope that helps.

java.util.Calendar

[Steve Morrow]

Calculating Java dates: Take the time to learn how to create and use dates
Working in Java time: Learn the basics of calculating elapsed time in Java

This is useful, too:
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=488668

[Patrick Mallahan]

thanks guys, i will try that

[Jorge Blaz]

Yes, the Calendar object is a great way of handling dates. Some methods of the Date object have been deprecated in favor of using the ones provided by the Calendar object

[Patrick Mallahan]

wow, it works so good, and its not even difficult to set up, thanks all.