How do I cast a string to a date object

I wrote a CustomDate class which handled conversion between Strings and Dates. Here is the code for returning dates from strings, and strings from dates. I think the setDate method throws the parsing error if the String parameter is something other than a date.

Dorothy

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import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.text.ParseException;
import java.util.Date;



   public static String getDate(java.util.Date d, String type) {
    SimpleDateFormat formatter = null;
    type = type.toUpperCase();
    try {
      if("L".equals(type)) {
        formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        if(DEBUG_ON) System.out.println("Long chosen.");
      }
      else if("S".equals(type)) {
        formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
        if(DEBUG_ON) System.out.println("Short chosen.");
      }
      return(formatter.format(d));
    } catch(Exception ex) {
      ex.printStackTrace();
    }

  public static java.util.Date setDate(String s, String type) {
    SimpleDateFormat formatter = null;
    type = type.toUpperCase();
    try {
      if("L".equals(type)) {
        formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
      }
      else if("S".equals(type)) {
        formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyyy");
      }
      return(formatter.parse(s));
    } catch(Exception pe) { ex.printStackTrace(); }
  }