<style>
/* custom styles for this example */
#demo .output {margin-bottom:1em; padding:10px; border:1px solid #D9D9D9;}
</style>

<div class="intro">
    <p>
        The Date module of the DataType Utility allows you to take a `String` or a `Number` (in milliseconds) value and convert it to `Date`.
        If no format is provided, the `parse()` method will accept any `String` or `Number` value supported by
        <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Reference/Global_Objects/Date">JavaScript's `Date()` constructor</a>.
    </p>
</div>

<div class="example yui3-skin-sam">
    {{>datatype-dateparse-source}}
</div>

<p>To convert a data value to a date, simply call the `parse()` function of the Y.Date class:</p>

```
YUI().use("datatype-date", function(Y) {
    var date = Y.Date.parse("Jan 7, 2003", format);
    // date is a JavaScript Date object
});
```
<p>A choice of a few format specifications has been provided in the dropdown box.
The date in the example above requires no format since it is natively understood
by the `Date()` constructor.  Alternatively, `format` could have been given
as `"%b %D, %Y"`</p>
