/* date validation begins */
function compareDate(fromDate, toDate)
{
    var splitchar='';
    
    if(fromDate.indexOf('-')>0)
        splitchar='-';
    if(fromDate.indexOf('/')>0)
        splitchar='/';
        
    var fromDateArray = fromDate.split(splitchar);
    var toDateArray  = toDate.split(splitchar); 
    
    var from = Date.parse(fromDate);
    var to = Date.parse(toDate);
    
    return (from-to);
    
    var from = Date.today().add({days: fromDateArray[1], months:fromDateArray[0], years: fromDateArray[2]});
    var to = Date.today().add({days: toDateArray[1], months:toDateArray[0], years: toDateArray[2]}); 
}

function isValidDate(dateStr, format)
{

//check if 2nd parameter contains valid value or not
//if not valid then set default format = "MDY"
if (format == null) { format = "MDY" }
format = format.toUpperCase();
if (format.length != 3) { format = "MDY" }
if ( (format.indexOf("M") == -1) ||
(format.indexOf("D") == -1) ||
(format.indexOf("Y") == -1)
)
{ format = "MDY" }

if (format.substring(0, 1) == "Y")
{ // If the year is first
var reg1 = /^\d{2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{1,2}\1\d{1,2}$/
var reg2 = /^\d{4}(\-|\/|\.)\d{1,2}\1\d{1,2}$/
}
else if (format.substring(1, 2) == "Y")
{ // If the year is second
var reg1 = /^\d{1,2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{2}\1\d{1,2}$/
var reg2 = /^\d{1,2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{4}\1\d{1,2}$/
}
else
{ // The year must be third
var reg1 = /^\d{1,2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{1,2}\1\d{2}$/
var reg2 = /^\d{1,2}(\-|\/|\.)\d{1,2}\1\d{4}$/
}

// If it doesn’t conform to the right format
//(with either a 2 digit year or 4 digit year), fail
if ( (reg1.test(dateStr) == false) &&
(reg2.test(dateStr) == false)
)
{ return false; }

// Split into 3 parts based on what the divider was
var parts = dateStr.split(RegExp.$1);

// Check to see if the 3 parts end up making a valid date
//extract month part
if (format.substring(0, 1) == "M") { var mm = parts[0]; }
else if (format.substring(1, 2) == "M") { var mm = parts[1]; }
else { var mm = parts[2]; }

//extract day part
if (format.substring(0, 1) == "D") { var dd = parts[0]; }
else if (format.substring(1, 2) == "D") { var dd = parts[1]; }
else { var dd = parts[2]; }

//extract Year part
if (format.substring(0, 1) == "Y") { var yy = parts[0]; }
else if (format.substring(1, 2) == "Y") { var yy = parts[1]; }
else { var yy = parts[2]; }

//if year is in 2 digit
//00-49 are assumed to be 21st century and 50-99 are assumed to be 20th century
if (parseFloat(yy) <= 50)
{ yy = (parseFloat(yy) + 2000).toString(); }
if (parseFloat(yy) <= 99) { yy = (parseFloat(yy) + 1900).toString(); }

var dt = new Date(parseFloat(yy), parseFloat(mm)-1, parseFloat(dd), 0, 0, 0, 0);

if (parseFloat(dd) != dt.getDate()) { return false; }

if (parseFloat(mm)-1 != dt.getMonth()) { return false; }

return true;

}