DateItem helpers

[joppert]

Due to GWT date manipulation issues it would be convenient to set String values instead of Date values in DateItem fields

DateItem item = new DateItem();

item.setStartDate("1900-01-01");
item.setEndDate("2020-01-01");

item.setStartYear("1900");
item.setEndYear("2020");

Reason is it is deprecated to manipulate dates in Java but not in GWT, and eventually it will cause issues....

I am currently using this which is a deprecated feature
private static final Date startDate = new Date( 1900 - 1900, 0,
1 );