only working with dates at at string level on the model

nextjs/src/models/local/timeUtils.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+const parseDateOrUndefined = (value: string): string | undefined => {
+
+  // may need to check for other formats
+  const validDateRegex = /([1-9][1-9]|[0-2])\/(0[1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|3[01])\/\d{4} (0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):([0-5][0-9]):([0-5][0-9])/;
+  if (!validDateRegex.test(value)) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+
+  const [datePart, timePart] = value.split(" ");
+  const [day, month, year] = datePart.split("/").map(Number);
+  const [hours, minutes, seconds] = timePart.split(":").map(Number);
+  const date = new Date(year, month - 1, day, hours, minutes, seconds);
+
+  if (isNaN(date.getTime())) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const stringDay = String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, "0");
+  const stringMonth = String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, "0"); // Months are zero-based
+  const stringYear = date.getFullYear();
+  const stringHours = String(date.getHours()).padStart(2, "0");
+  const stringMinutes = String(date.getMinutes()).padStart(2, "0");
+  const stringSeconds = String(date.getSeconds()).padStart(2, "0");
+
+  return `${stringDay}/${stringMonth}/${stringYear} ${stringHours}:${stringMinutes}:${stringSeconds}`;
+};
+
+export const timeUtils = {
+  parseDateOrUndefined,
+  parseDateOrThrow: (value: string, labelForError: string): string => {
+    const myDate = parseDateOrUndefined(value);
+    if (!myDate) throw new Error(`Invalid format for ${labelForError}: ${value}`);
+    return myDate;
+  },
+};