code: def valueFromString(self, value, context=None):
          
          if value in ('today', 'now'):
              return datetime.date.utcnow()
  
          try:
              return datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(float(value))
          except StandardError:
              if dateutil_parser:
                  return dateutil_parser.parse(value)
              else:
                  return datetime.datetime.min()
docs: Converts the inputted string text to a value that matches the type from
          this column type.
  
          :param      value | <str>