Hibernate version:
3.1.3

In my database, date fields are often stored as seven-digit numeric fields, in the format CYYMMDD. I have created a UserType to map these numeric fields to a java.util.Date.

My problem is this: in my NullSafeGet() method, the value retrieved from the DB for these numeric date fields will sometimes be "0". Since java.util.Date doesn't really offer a way to represent a blank date, I can choose to return null from the method, but that means that every time I use this UserType in my Java code, I'll have to check that the reference isn't null.

Does anyone know of a better way to handle this?

Thanks,
Curt

Sorry to bump this, but does anyone have any thoughts on how to better handle this situation?

Thanks,
Curt

Sorry to bump this, but does anyone have any thoughts on how to better handle this situation?

Thanks,
Curt