JSR-303 validation groups define a default group

Question

I have a bean that has a lot of fields annotated with JSR-303 validation annotations. There is a new requirement now that one of the fields is mandatory, but only in certain conditions.

I looked around and have found what I needed, validation groups.

This is what I have now:

public interface ValidatedOnCreationOnly { }  @NotNull(groups = ValidatedOnCreationOnly.class) private String employerId; @Length(max = 255) @NotNull private String firstName; @Length(max = 255) @NotNull private String lastName; 

However, when I run this validation in a unit test:

@Test public void testEmployerIdCanOnlyBeSetWhenCreating() {     EmployeeDTO dto = new EmployeeDTO();      ValidatorFactory vf = Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory();     Set<ConstraintViolation<EmployeeDTO>> violations = vf.getValidator().validate(dto, EmployeeDTO.ValidatedOnCreationOnly.class);      assertEquals(violations.size(), 3); } 

It turns out that all of the non-group annotated validations are ignored and I get only 1 violation.

I can understand this behaviour but I would like to know if there is a way I can make the group include all non-annotated parameters as well. If not I'd have to do something like this:

public interface AlwaysValidated { }  public interface ValidatedOnCreationOnly extends AlwaysValidated { }  @NotNull(groups = ValidatedOnCreationOnly.class) private String employerId; @Length(max = 255, groups = AlwaysValidated.class) @NotNull(groups = AlwaysValidated.class) private String firstName; @Length(max = 255, groups = AlwaysValidated.class) @NotNull(groups = AlwaysValidated.class) private String lastName; 

The real class I'm working with has a lot more fields (about 20), so this method turns what was a clear way of indicating the validations into a big mess.

Can anyone tell me if there is a better way? Maybe something like:

vf.getValidator().validate(dto, EmployeeDTO.ValidatedOnCreationOnly.class, NonGroupSpecific.class); 

I'm using this in a spring project so if spring has another way I'll be glad to know.

Answer 1

There is a Default group in javax.validation.groups.Default, which represents the default Bean Validation group. Unless a list of groups is explicitly defined:

• constraints belong to the Default group
• validation applies to the Default group

You could extends this group:

public interface ValidatedOnCreationOnly extends Default {} 

Answer 2

just wanted to add more:

if you're using spring framework you can use org.springframework.validation.Validator

@Autowired private Validator validator; 

and to perform validation manually:

validator.validate(myObject, ValidationErrorsToException.getInstance()); 

and in controller:

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST) public Callable<ResultObject> post(@RequestBody @Validated(MyObject.CustomGroup.class) MyObject request) {     // logic } 

although in this way extending from javax.validation.groups.Default won't work so you have to include Default.class in groups:

class MyObject {      @NotNull(groups = {Default.class, CustomGroup.class})     private String id;      public interface CustomGroup extends Default {} }