xpages validation error control display order

1
votes

Good gravy!?! Why does this show in such a weird order? There are 4 questions on the page requiring validation. The 4 questions are fields in order of 1, 2, 3, 4.

But the validation at the bottom of the page reports on them in an apparently random order!

(image of problem is here: http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/xpagesforum.nsf/xsp/.ibmmodres/persistence/DominoDoc-13B6A-Body/11111.jpeg)

This is the source code as it appears on the xpage

    <xp:inputTextarea style="width:75%" value="#{Report.Agenda}" id="Agenda">
                            <xp:this.validators>
                    <xp:validateRequired
                        message="Question 1 can't be blank">
                    </xp:validateRequired><!-- (1)  -->
                </xp:this.validators>
    </xp:inputTextarea>

    <xp:br></xp:br>
    <xp:br></xp:br>

    <xp:inputTextarea style="width:75%" value="#{Report.Themes}" id="Themes" required="true">
    <xp:this.validators>
        <xp:validateRequired message="Question 2 can't be blank."></xp:validateRequired>
    </xp:this.validators></xp:inputTextarea>

    <xp:br></xp:br>
    <xp:br></xp:br>

    <xp:inputTextarea style="width:75%" value="#{Report.Why}" id="Why" required="true">
    <xp:this.validators>
        <xp:validateRequired message="Question 3 can't be blank."></xp:validateRequired>
    </xp:this.validators></xp:inputTextarea>

    <xp:br></xp:br>
    <xp:br></xp:br>

    <xp:inputTextarea style="width:75%" value="#{Report.Goals}"  id="Goals" required="true">
    <xp:this.validators>
        <xp:validateRequired message="Question 4 can't be blank."></xp:validateRequired>
    </xp:this.validators></xp:inputTextarea>
3
validationxpages
Thanks all, I'll examine all the solutions. Boy this is just so Notes as it has been over the decades, to get so much right, but then at the final step just miss connecting with the end user, sigh..... – Randal Oulton

3 Answers

1
votes

There's some information about this here: How to set the order of validation messages?

Long story short you might want to check the solution on this blog. http://dontpanic82.blogspot.com/2011/07/custom-control-for-enhanced-validation.html

1
votes

Are the errors always in a random order or always in the same order' just not the order you're expecting? If the latter, it could be to do with the order in which the controls were added to the XPage or else the order they are find in the component tree, navigating from sibling through children to next sibling etc.

There will be a corresponding Java class in Package Explorer under local\xsp. The order of the create... methods, e.g. createButton1 may offer some clues.

1
votes

The validation errors are internally stored in a java.util.HashMap. This is what the documentation says about this class:

This class makes no guarantees as to the order of the map; in particular, it does not guarantee that the order will remain constant over time.

When the Messages control is rendered, the FacesMessages are displayed in a random order. There is no chance to change this behaviour. Instead you have to create your own solution.