private void parse(String dateTime) {

        /** Convert dateTime string to seconds since epoch */
        if (dateTime.startsWith("now")) {

            /** Case 1: if string starts with now: special case read system time */
            refSecondsSinceEpoch = getSystemTimeInSecondsSinceEpoch();

            /** Case 2: now can be followed by -seconds for time offset */
            if (dateTime.startsWith("now-")) {
                // offset in seconds may be given
                String offsetStr = dateTime.substring(4);
                long timeOffset;
                if ( offsetStr.length() > 0) {
                    timeOffset = Long.parseLong(offsetStr);
                } else {
                    timeOffset = 1;
                }
                refSecondsSinceEpoch = refSecondsSinceEpoch - timeOffset;
            }
        } else { /** Case 3: Reftime explicitly given seconds since epoch */
            refSecondsSinceEpoch = Long.parseLong(dateTime);
        }
        //  Need to activate freshness in the QueryX packet if enabled: See QueryPacket.java
    }
The parameters for a freshness query (uses the datetime http parameter)
Parses the string part of the "datetime=&lt;string&gt;", converts it to seconds
since epoch and send that plus sets the flag in the QueryX packet that
enables freshnessboost in fsearch.
<p>
This is a value object

@author Per G. Auran
container-search/src/main/java/com/yahoo/prelude/Freshness.java