code: public Date dateValue(String date) {
  		Date value = null;
  		if (date != null) {
  
  			// Try each simple date formatter in order
  			ParseException exception = null;
  			for (SimpleDateFormat sdf : formatters) {
  				try {
  					synchronized (sdf) {
  						value = sdf.parse(date);
  					}
  					break;
  				} catch (ParseException e) {
  					if (exception == null) {
  						exception = e;
  					}
  				}
  			}
  
  			// If no value could be parsed throw the first expected parse
  			// format exception
  			if (value == null) {
  				throw new GeoPackageException("Failed to parse date string: "
  						+ date, exception);
  			}
  
  		}
  		return value;
  	}
docs: Get the date value of the formatted string date
  
  @param date
  formatted string date
  @return date