[rules-users] Problems with Global Date Object

[Brian Enderle]

I would like to create a new Date object representing the current date and use 
that as a global.  I have tried the following:

(in Java code)
setGlobal("todaysDate", new Date());

(in rules file)
global java.utils.Date todaysDate;

rule "LevelTwo: Associate birth date must be before today"
	when
		Associate(birthDt <= todaysDate)
	then 
		System.out.println("Birth Date must be before today");
end

with this code I get the following error:

Error creating bean with name 'ruleBase' defined in class path resource 
[spring-beans.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is 
org.drools.rule.InvalidRulePackage: org.drools.compiler.GlobalError at b51c29
Caused by: org.drools.rule.InvalidRulePackage: 
org.drools.compiler.GlobalError at b51c29
	at org.drools.rule.Package.checkValidity(Package.java:408)
	at org.drools.common.AbstractRuleBase.addPackage
(AbstractRuleBase.java:288)
	at com.sample.RuleBaseBeanFactory.afterPropertiesSet
(RuleBaseBeanFactory.java:63)
etc...


I have also tried to set a constant date with the date format that I found in 
the Drools docs (dd-MMM-yyyy) like such:

statefulSession.setGlobal("todaysDate", "10-Jul-1974");

and I get the same error message.

The rule does work correctly when I hard code a value in place of todaysDate 
within the rule so I know the rule works (but obviously that is not an option).

What is the proper way to set a Date global?  Is it possible this is a bug?

Thanks in advance,
Brian Enderle