// format_german_short
// formats to dd.mm.yyyy hh:mm for most common needs
Date.prototype.toFormattedString = function(include_time)
{
  str = Date.padded2(this.getDate()) + "." + Date.padded2(this.getMonth() + 1) + "." + this.getFullYear();

  if (include_time) {
    hour = this.getHours();
    str += " " + Date.padded2(this.getHours()) + ":" + this.getPaddedMinutes();
  }

  return str;
}

Date.parseFormattedString = function(string)
{
  var regexp = '([0-9]{2})\.(([0-9]{2})\.(([0-9]{4})( ([0-9]{2}):([0-9]{2})? *)?)?)?';
  var d = string.match(new RegExp(regexp, "i"));
  if (d == null)
    return Date.parse(string); // at least give javascript a crack at it.

  var offset = 0;

  if (d[5] && d[5].length == 2)
  {
    // we got only two digits for the year...
    d[5] = Number(d[5]);
    if (d[5] > 30)
      d[5] += 1900;
    else
      d[5] += 2000;
  }

  var date = new Date(d[5], 0, 1);

  if (d[3])
  {
    date.setMonth(d[3] - 1);
  }
  if (d[5])
  {
    date.setDate(d[1]);
  }
  if (d[7])
  {
    date.setHours(parseInt(d[7], 10));    
  }
  if (d[8]) {
    date.setMinutes(d[8]);
  }
  if (d[10]) {
    date.setSeconds(d[10]);
  }

  return date;
}