[LANG-400] Add DateUtils methods to implement before and after time-insensitive

• Type: New Feature
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Won't Fix
• Affects Version/s: 2.3
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Paul Benedict
• Created: 10/Jan/08 06:41
• Updated: 21/Oct/13 19:59
• Resolved: 19/Jul/09 19:10

Description

The JDK contains Date.before() and Date.after() but no time-insensitive versions exist. I am typically in the situation where TIMESTAMP columns are converted into Date instances and I need to compare dates only for business rules.

I propose to complement DateUtils.isSameDay:
DateUtils.isBeforeDay
DateUtils.isAfterDay

My private implementations convert Date to Calendar, zero-out the time elements, and then compare.

PS: I would also deprecate isSameXXX methods in 2.4 and rename it to isEqualXXX since sameness usually implies instance equality, rather than object equality.