code: def valueFromString(self, value, context=None):
          
          if value in ('today', 'now'):
              return datetime.date.today()
          elif dateutil_parser:
              return dateutil_parser.parse(value).date()
          else:
              time_struct = time.strptime(value, self.defaultFormat())
              return datetime.date(time_struct.tm_year,
                                   time_struct.tm_month,
                                   time_struct.tm_day)
docs: Converts the inputted string text to a value that matches the type from
          this column type.
  
          :param      value | <str>