--- a/software/mpdl-services/mpiwg-mpdl-xml/src/de/mpg/mpiwg/berlin/mpdl/util/Util.java	Wed Dec 14 13:57:09 2011 +0100
+++ b/software/mpdl-services/mpiwg-mpdl-xml/src/de/mpg/mpiwg/berlin/mpdl/util/Util.java	Tue Nov 27 12:35:19 2012 +0100
@@ -3,8 +3,14 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.text.DateFormat;
+import java.text.ParseException;
+import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
+import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
+import de.mpg.mpiwg.berlin.mpdl.exception.ApplicationException;
+
 public class Util {
 
   public Properties getProperties(String fullFileName) {
@@ -14,8 +20,47 @@
       FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(file);
       props.load(in);
     } catch (IOException e) {
+      e.printStackTrace();
     }
     return props;
   }
+
+  public String toYearStr(String inputStr) {
+    String retYearStr = inputStr.trim();
+    int index = inputStr.indexOf("-");
+    if (index > 0) {
+      retYearStr = inputStr.substring(0, index);
+      retYearStr = retYearStr.trim();
+    }
+    return retYearStr;
+  }
+
+  public Date toDate(String xsDateStr) throws ApplicationException {
+    Date retDate = null;
+    if (xsDateStr == null)
+      return null;
+    try {
+      DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'");
+      retDate = dateFormat.parse(xsDateStr);
+    } catch (ParseException e) {
+      throw new ApplicationException(e);
+    }
+    return retDate;
+  }
+
+  public String toXsDate(Date date) {
+    DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'");
+    String xsDateStr = dateFormat.format(date);
+    return xsDateStr;
+  }
   
+  public Double getSecondWithMillisecondsBetween(Date begin, Date end) {
+    long beginMS = begin.getTime();
+    long endMS = end.getTime();
+    long elapsedSeconds = (endMS - beginMS) / 1000;
+    long elapsedMilliSecondsAfterSeconds1 = (endMS - beginMS) - (elapsedSeconds * 1000);
+    Double seconds = new Double(elapsedSeconds + "." + elapsedMilliSecondsAfterSeconds1); 
+    return seconds;
+  }
+ 
 }