YAHOO.lang.augmentObject(Date, {
 
	/**
	 * Date constant for full month names
	 *
	 * @property MONTHS
	 * @type string
	 */
	MONTHS: ['January','February','March','April','May','June','July','August','September','October','November','December'],
 
	/**
	 * Returns a date object from the string; expects "MonthName, DayNr Year Hrs:Min:Sec", may not work properly on other strings in all browsers
	 *
	 * @method getDate
	 * @param s {string} the date as a string
	 * @return {date} a date object, defined by the passed string
	 * @static
	 */
	getDate: function(s) {
		var d = new Date();
		d.setTime(Date.parse(s));
		return d;
	}
}, true);

//  Extending the Date.prototype Object
 
YAHOO.lang.augmentObject(Date.prototype, {
 
	/**
	 * Retrieves the name of the month
	 *
	 * @method getMonthName
	 * @return {string} the month name
	 * @public
	 */
	getMonthName: function() {
		return Date.MONTHS[this.getMonth()];
	},
 
	/**
	 * Retrieves the abbreviated name of the month
	 *
	 * @method getMonthNameAbbr
	 * @return {string} the abbreviated month name
	 * @public
	 */
	getMonthNameAbbr: function() {
		return this.getMonthName().substr(0,3);
	},
 
	/**
	 * Converts the JavaScript Date into a date string. Recognizes the following format characters: y = year, m = month, d = day of month, h = hour, i = minute, s = second
	 *
	 * @method toDateString
	 * @param (string} format OPTIONAL: The string format to convert the JavaScript Date into (ie. ‘m/d/y’ or ‘m. d, y’); default is ‘m/d/y’
	 * @param {boolean} showZeros OPTIONAL: Forces trailing zeros, so 9/1/2006 becomes 09/01/2006
	 * @param {Mixed} useMonthName OPTIONAL: string or boolean, use the month name instead of the digit, (’abbr’ uses the short name)
	 * @return {string} the JavaScript Date as a string
	 * @public
	 */
	toDateString: function(format, showZeros, useMonthName) {
		if (! isType(format, ’string’)) {format = ‘m/d/y’;}
		format = format.toLowerCase();
 
		// cast all values to strings
		var day = ” + this.getDate(),
			month = ” + (this.getMonth() + 1),
			hour = ” + this.getHours(),
			minute = ” + this.getMinutes(),
			second = ” + this.getSeconds(),
			year = ” + this.getFullYear();
 
		// pad leading zeros
		if (showZeros) {
			if (1 === day.length) {day = ‘0′ + day;}
			if (1 === month.length) {month = ‘0′ + month;}
			if (1 === hour.length) {hour = ‘0′ + hour;}
			if (1 === minute.length) {minute = ‘0′ + minute;}
			if (1 === second.length) {second = ‘0′ + second;}
		}
 
		// use month name
		if (useMonthName) {
			month = (isType(useMonthName, ’string’) && ‘abbr’ === useMonthName.toLowerCase())? this.getMonthNameAbbr(): this.getMonthName();
		}
 
		return format.replace(’y', year)
					 .replace(’d', day)
					 .replace(’h', hour)
					 .replace(’i', minute)
					 .replace(’s’, second)
					 .replace(’m', month); // do month last as some months contain reserved letters
	},
 
	/**
	 * Converts JavaScript Date into a MySQL dateTime string "1969-12-31 00:00:00"
	 *
	 * @method toTimeString
	 * @return {string} the JavaScript Date as a MySQL time string
	 * @public
	 */
	toTimeString: function() {
		return this.toDateString('y-m-d h:i:s', true);
	}
}, true);