The Date literal must be enclosed within number signs ( #date# ) and specify the date value in the format M/d/yyyy like #09/06/2014# . Else, the way how your code is interpreted may vary depending on the locale in which your application is deployed. With this requirement the meaning of your code should never change whether if it has a different date and time format settings. For example, you hard-coded a Date literal of #9/6/2014# which means September 6, 2014. That will compile 9/6/2014 as you want mm/dd/yyyy. However, if you deploy application in several locales using dd/mm/yyyy date format, your hard-coded literal would compile to June 9, 2014. For other locales using yyyy/mm/dd, the literal would be invalid causing compilation error. To convert a Date literal to the format of your locale or to a custom format, use the Format function of String class, specifying either a predefined or user-defined date format. Predefined Date/Time Formats The following table identifies the