convertStringIntoStringList function
Implementation
List<String> convertStringIntoStringList(String string) {
List<String> stringList = [];
//stringList.length <= 2 means the String is only "[]"
//or empty or has 1 character (meaning definitely not a list of String which would have minimum 2 characters for an empty list [])
//therefore return an empty list
//Furthermore, because the String received from the database
//is of format "[string1, string2, ...]"
//therefore when converting it, omit the first and last characters
//(eg. the "[" and "]" characters of the String)
//furthermore, each date is separated by the folowing two characters ", "
stringList = string.length <= 2
? []
: string.substring(1, string.length - 1).split(', ');
return stringList;
}