// Support a date in the MEDIUM format in the current locale;
// see Formatting and Parsing a Date Using Default Formats.
// For Locale.ENGLISH, the format would be Feb 8, 2002.
JFormattedTextField tft1 = new JFormattedTextField(new Date());

// Support a date in the SHORT format using the current locale.
// For Locale.ENGLISH, the format would be 2/8/02.
JFormattedTextField tft2 = new JFormattedTextField(DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT));
tft2.setValue(new Date());

// Support a date with the custom format: 2002-8-2
JFormattedTextField tft3 = new JFormattedTextField(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-M-d"));
tft3.setValue(new Date());
// See also Formatting a Date Using a Custom Format

// Retrieve the date from the text field
Date date = (Date)tft3.getValue();