Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

I have a bean that has a set method that takes in a java.sql.Date object.

public void setStartDate(java.sql.Date newValue){
	startDate= newValue;
}

This is used in a PreparedStatement to retrieve data from the database.

I am pulling the value from the URL. For example, the url would be:

http://localhost:8080/test/somePage.jsp?startDate=01-APR-2008

Now, in the JSP I am trying to use the fmt:formatDate tag.

<fmt:formatDate value="${param.startDate}" var="startDate" pattern="yyyy-mm-dd"/>

However, I just cannot get it to work. It keeps throwing errors like:
Attempt to convert String "01-Apr-2008" to type "java.util.Date", but there is no PropertyEditor for that type

So after some reading, I decided to try fmt:parseDate. So I then did:

<fmt:parseDate var="startDate" value="${param.startDate}" pattern="yyyy-mm-dd" />

Then I get the error:
In <parseDate>, value attribute can not be parsed: "01-Apr-2008"

All I am trying to do is call:

<jsp:setProperty property="startDate" name="HomeBean" value="${startDate}"/>