    """DateParser.py

    Convert string representations of dates to Python datetime objects.

    Since this is not adequately supported by the Python standard library,
    we try using the following third-party modules (in this order):

        python-dateutil: http://labix.org/python-dateutil
        mxDateTime: http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxBase/mxDateTime/

    If none of these modules are available, we try using the strptime function
    in the Python standard library with several frequently used formats.

    Contributed to Webware for Python by Christoph Zwerschke.

    """

    try:
        from dateutil.parser import parse as parseDateTime

    except ImportError: # dateutil not available

        from datetime import datetime

        try:
            from mx.DateTime.Parser import DateTimeFromString

            def parseDateTime(s):
                t = DateTimeFromString(s)
                # needs to be converted to datetime
                try:
                    return datetime.fromtimestamp(t)
                except Exception: # out of range for timestamp values
                    return datetime(*t.tuple()[:6])

        except ImportError: # mx.DateTime not available

            try:
                strpdatetime = datetime.strptime
            except AttributeError: # Python < 2.5
                from time import strptime
                # needs to be converted to datetime
                strpdatetime = lambda s, format: datetime(
                    *strptime(s, format)[:6])

            def parseDateTime(s):
                """Return a datetime object corresponding to the given string."""
                formats = ("%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y", "%a, %d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S",
                    "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S",
                    "%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S", "%Y%m%dT%H:%M:%S",
                    "%Y%m%d %H%M%S", "%Y%m%dT%H%M%S",
                    "%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S", "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M",
                    "%Y-%m-%d", "%Y%m%d", "%m/%d/%y",
                    "%H:%M:%S", "%H:%M", "%c")
                for format in formats:
                    try:
                        return strpdatetime(s, format)
                    except ValueError:
                        pass
                raise ValueError('Cannot parse date/time %s' % s)

    def parseDate(s):
        """Return a date object corresponding to the given string."""
        return parseDateTime(s).date()

    def parseTime(s):
        """Return a time object corresponding to the given string."""
        return parseDateTime(s).time()

    __all__ = ['parseDateTime', 'parseDate', 'parseTime']