[RBASE-L] - Converting text to date or time

[Michael J. Sinclair]

Hi All,
I want to convert some text into a date or into a time
Is there a function that does that? 
If not, which is better...
 
SET VAR vdatetext TEXT
SET VAR vdatetext = '03/17/2012'
SET VAR vdate DATE
SET VAR vdate = .vdatetext
 
vs
 
SET VAR vdate TEXT = '03/17/2012'
SET VAR vdate DATE
 
vs
 
Something else?
 
Mike