May editmask be used with jTextFields?

The aim is to use an editmask to force that only valid dates are entered (typed) into the field. This could be done by linking a jDbTextField to a column of a QueryDataSet and then setting the editmask for this column. However the date involved inthis case is not a column of a table. It is a date that will be used to make decisions about the processing. jTextField itself has no editmask property. If editmask cannot be used is there some other way. The format method of DateFormat is usedto produce a string from a valid date. The parse method of DateFormat is used to produce a valid date from a string. Neither of them seems to serve as an editmask during data capture.

Help will be appreciated.