SetUp Scripts for current and future dates

Ok, I did this. Probably much nicer ways to do it, but ...

//Parse table row returned
def dbNewDbu = context.expand( '${check DBU really changed#ResponseAsXml#//root[1]/data[1]/reset[1]}' )

dateFormat = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
Date dbValAsDate = dateFormat.parse(dbNewDbu);

// Set up a pair of calendar object for date manipulation
def a = Calendar.getInstance();
def b = Calendar.getInstance();
// set them now + 30 days +/- 5 minutes in case of time sync differences
a.add(Calendar.DATE,30);
b.add(Calendar.DATE,30);
a.add(Calendar.MINUTE,-5);
b.add(Calendar.MINUTE,5);

// get 2 date objects from Calendar objects, so we can do assertion with before and after methods
Date aDate = a.getTime();
Date bDate = b.getTime();

s1= dateFormat.format(aDate);
s2= dateFormat.format(dbValAsDate);
s3= dateFormat.format(bDate);

assert (dbValAsDate.after(aDate) && dbValAsDate.before(bDate));

so, for smartTest's problem above, use the Calendar object to do the manipulation, and then convert to date object with Calendar.getTime()

Hope this helps.

David