Turn array of strings into array of dates in Google Apps Script - arrays

Question

I have a Google Sheets spreadsheet. In Column B, I have a list of strings that are either dates or ranges of dates in the format month/date. For example:
7/26
7/27-7/31
8/1
8/2
8/3-8/5
I want to create an array with the first date on the left and the second date (if any) on the right. If there's no second date, it can be left blank. This is what I want:
[7/26,]
[7/27,7/31]
[8/1,]
[8/2,]
[8/3,8/5]
I've tried:
var r = 'B'
var dateString = sheet.getRange(dateColumns[r] + '1:' + dateColumns[r] + lastRow.toString()).getValues();
var dateArr = Utilities.parseCsv(dateString, '-');
But that just keeps concatenating all values. Also if it's possible to put the output in a date format that would be great too.

Answer 1

This was a funny exercise to play with...
Here is a code that does what you want :
function test(){
convertToDateArray('7/26,7/27-7/31,8/1,8/2,8/3-8/5');
}
function convertToDateArray(inputString){
if(typeof(inputString)=='string'){inputString=inputString.split(',')}; // if input is a string then split it into an array using comma as separator
var data = [];
var datesArray = [];
for(var n in inputString){
if(inputString[n].indexOf('-')==-1){inputString[n]+='-'};// if only 1 field add an empty one
data.push(inputString[n].split('-'));// make it an array
}
Logger.log(data);//check
for(var n in data){
var temp = [];
for(var c in data[n]){
Logger.log('data[n][c] = '+ data[n][c]);
var date = data[n][c]!=''? new Date(2014,Number(data[n][c].split('/')[0])-1,Number(data[n][c].split('/')[1]),0,0,0,0) : '';// create date objects with right values
Logger.log('date = '+date);//check
temp.push(date);
}
datesArray.push(temp);//store output data in an array of arrays, ready to setValues in a SS
}
Logger.log(datesArray);
var sh = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getActiveSheet();
sh.getRange(1,1,datesArray.length,datesArray[0].length).setValues(datesArray);
}
Logger result for datesArray :
[[Sat Jul 26 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014, ], [Sun Jul 27 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014, Thu Jul 31 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014], [Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014, ], [Sat Aug 02 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014, ], [Sun Aug 03 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014, Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 GMT+02:00 2014]]