[java] How to initialize java.util.date to empty

I need your help in initializing a java.util.Date variable to empty. As I am running the page and it is showing NullPointerException if I didn't select any date.

The code is:

private java.util.Date date2;

I tried to make that variable empty, but it didn't work

private java.util.Date date2;

if (date2 == null || date2.equals(""))
    date2 = "";

However, with the initialization:

private java.util.Date date2 = new java.util.Date(0,0,0);

The above code will give me a default value which I don't want it.

It's not clear how you want your Date logic to behave? Usually a good way to deal with default behaviour is the Null Object pattern.

IMO, you cannot create an empty Date(java.util). You can create a Date object with null value and can put a null check.

 Date date = new Date(); // Today's date and current time
 Date date2 = new Date(0); // Default date and time
 Date date3 = null; //Date object with null as value.
 if(null != date3) {
    // do your work.
 }

Try initializing with null value.

private java.util.Date date2 = null;

Also private java.util.Date date2 = ""; will not work as "" is a string.

An instance of Date always represents a date and cannot be empty. You can use a null value of date2 to represent "there is no date". You will have to check for null whenever you use date2 to avoid a NullPointerException, like when rendering your page:

if (date2 != null)
  // print date2
else
  // print nothing, or a default value