How to access a Date Variable from Service class in Controller - grails

Question

I have the following model class
public class User{
String firstName
String lastName
Date startDate
Date endDate
static constraint(){
firstname(nullable:true)
lastname(nullable:true)
startDate
endDate
}
}
My Service class
public class UserService {
public void addUser(String firstName, String lastName, Date startDate, Date endDate){
User user = new User()
user.firstName=firstName
user.lastName=lastName
user.startDate=startDate
user.endDate=endDate
}
}
Now my Question is how can i access my Date variables in my controller
My controller class
public class UserController {
def applyService
def register = applyService.addUser(params.firstName.toString(), params.lastName.toString()
now I don't know how to access my startDate and endDate variable .... i can't access them using params because they are not string...any solution. am new to grails

Answer 1

You are leaving aside one of the most powerful features of Grails: Data Binding
I would do something like:
class UserController {
def userService
def save = {
def user = new User(params)
userService.addUser(user)
}
}
When instantiating a Domain Object with the param maps on a Controller, Grails will figure it out for you what is the proper type of the User's fields and will set them accordingly. On your service you can simply persist the instance.
I would recommend you to have a look to Command Objects as well.

Answer 2

If i were you I will change as follow.
def register = applyService.addUser(params.firstName.toString(),params.lastName.toString()
,parseDate(params['startDate'] ,
parseDate(parmas['endDate']))
And assuming you are using grails version > 2.3 change as follow
A setting in Config.groovy
grails.databinding.dateFormats = [
'MMddyyyy', 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S', "yyyy-MM-dd'T'hh:mm:ss'Z'"]
import org.grails.databinding.BindingFormat
public class User{
String firstName
String lastName
#BindingFormat('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S') // or any format you like
Date startDate
#BindingFormat('yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.S')
Date endDate
static constraint(){
firstname(nullable:true)
lastname(nullable:true)
startDate
endDate
}
}
Cheers!