#JS: create date objects with custom date formats

compare_dates.js

var startBookDate = $(this).find('input.startdate').val(),
	endBookDate = $(this).find('input.enddate').val(),
	startBookDateObj, endBookDateObj, 
	startSeasonDateObj, endSeasonDateObj;

// use function parseDate() own function to get a new Date object from a custom string format, cause the format delivered from the datePicker is Swiss date friendly
// Then use the JS Date function and its "parse" method to get a number (of milliseconds) to be able to compare dates.

startBookDateObj = Date.parse( parseDate(startBookDate) );
endBookDateObj = Date.parse( parseDate(endBookDate) );

startSeasonDateObj = Date.parse( parseDate(seasonStart) );
endSeasonDateObj = Date.parse( parseDate(seasonEnd) );

function.js

function parseDate(input, format) {
	format = format || 'dd.mm.yyyy'; // some default format
	var parts = input.match(/(\d+)/g),
		i = 0,
		fmt = {};
	// extract date-part indexes from the format
	format.replace(/(yyyy|dd|mm)/g, function(part) { fmt[part] = i++; });
	return new Date(parts[fmt['yyyy']], parts[fmt['mm']]-1, parts[fmt['dd']]);
}

// Custom formats can be passed like: 
// parseDate('01-31-2010', 'mm-dd-yyyy');