Spring WebFlow doesn't use the the implemented validator

Question

Spring webflow does not use the custom validator PatientValidator to validate Patient model while transitioning from selectPatient state to selectDoctor state.

Here is my code

Patient.java

@Data
@Entity
public class Patient implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = -5116169782847291743L;

  ...
}

PatientValidator.java

@Component
public class PatientValidator extends FieldValidator {
    public PatientValidator() { }

    public void validateSelectPatient(Patient patient, Errors errors) {
        System.out.println("PatientValidator . validateSelectPatient");
    }

    public void validateSelectDoctor(Patient patient, Errors errors) {
        System.out.println("PatientValidator . validateSelectDoctor");
    }
}

submit-request-flow.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<flow xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow
                          http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow/spring-webflow-2.0.xsd">

  <secured attributes="ROLE_OFFICER" match="any"/>

  <on-start>
    <evaluate expression="submitRequestFlow.getPatient()" result="flowScope.patient"></evaluate>
  </on-start>


  <view-state id="selectPatient"  view="flows/requests/new/select-patient" model="patient">
    <transition on="select" to="selectDoctor"></transition>
  </view-state>


  <view-state id="selectDoctor" view="flows/requests/new/select-doctor">
    <transition on="select" to="selectTestType"></transition>
    <transition on="back" to="selectPatient"></transition>
  </view-state>


  ...


  <end-state id="finishFlow" view="externalRedirect:#{uri.get('requests')}">
    <output name="success" value="'Request has been added successfully'"/>
  </end-state>

  <end-state id="cancelFlow" view="externalRedirect:#{uri.get('requests')}">
  </end-state>

  <global-transitions>
    <transition on="cancel" to="cancelFlow" history="discard" bind="false" validate="false"></transition>
  </global-transitions>

</flow>

Even if I use the validation method inside Patient.java, the webflow uses it.

@Data
@Entity
public class Patient implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = -5116169782847291743L;

  ...

  public void validateSelectPatient(Errors errors) {
        errors.reject("NoResultFound");
    }
}

I have to use the custom validation rather than the model one, it works just the first time, but I guess after I rebooted spring boot project it doesn't work anymore.

Update #1

I am using

Spring boot 1.5.6.RELEASE
Spring WebFlow 2.4.5.RELEASE
Thymeleaf 3.0.7.RELEASE
Thymeleaf SpringSecurity4 3.0.2.RELEASE

Ahmed Shendy Ahmed Shendy · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-20T17:12:24

I guess issue is related how spring DevTools works, here is a workaround I have done for another issue here SpelEvaluationException Method cannot be found.

Spring WebFlow doesn't use the the implemented validator

1 Answers