+ * The date field is assumed to be in the form resembling
+ * [mm[/dd]]/yy[yy] and the result is stored in the out
+ * parameters any or all of which can be omitted.
+ *
+ * If the field doesn't exist, all out parameters are set to zero
+ * and false is returned. Otherwise, true is returned with any
+ * invalid part of date set to zero.
+ *
+ * On return, year, month and day are guaranteed to be in the
+ * range of [0,9999], [0,12] and [0,31] respectively.