Using both JSR-303 and Traditional Bean Validation?

Question

Is it possible to use both JSR-303 bean validation and traditional validation (a single validator class for the type) in Spring? If so, what configuration is required to set this up?

I have tried the instructions on the reference.

@InitBinder
protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
    binder.setValidator(new DualEntryValidator());
}

@RequestMapping(value="/dualEntry.htm", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ModelAndView handlePost(@Valid DualEntryForm form, BindingResult result) {
    ModelAndView modelAndView = new ModelAndView("dualEntry", getCommonModel());

    if (!result.hasErrors()){
        //do logic
        return modelAndView;

    }else {
        modelAndView.addObject("dualEntryForm", form);
        return modelAndView;
    }
}

I can get this to use my custom Validator or the JSR-303 validation, but not both. If I have the initBinder present as in the example it uses the custom Validator. If I remove it the JSR-303 bean validation is used. How can I use both?

Answer 1

I've done that following the instructions here:

http://blog.jteam.nl/2009/08/04/bean-validation-integrating-jsr-303-with-spring/

See the "Enjoy both worlds" section. Shortly, you explicitly run a JSR303 validation from a Spring validator, "joining" the results of JSR303 validations based on annotations and your custom validation logic.

Answer 2

I realise this is quite old, but I got this to work with minimal disturbance to my code

Change binder.setValidator(new DualEntryValidator());

to

@InitBinder
protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
    binder.addValidators(new DualEntryValidator());
}

With setValidator() you're replacing the JSR-303 validator with your one. With addValidator(), the JSR-303 validator is called and so is yours.

You need to make sure that your validator does not overlap with your JSR-303 @NotNull, @Min, @Max, etc. annotations otherwise you'll get duplicate error messages added.

Answer 3

Spring provides three handle for bean validation.

1.abstract class AbstractPropertyValidationAnnotationHandler

2.abstract class AbstractMethodValidationAnnotationHandler

3.abstract class ClassValidationAnnotationHandler

In this example i am implementing custom annotation CustomAnnotationHandle

@Target({ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Documented
 Class CustomAnnotationHandle extends  Annotation{

    public abstract String value();

   }

To implement custom annotation for property validation we need to extend AbstractPropertyValidationAnnotationHandler Class.

AbstractPropertyValidationAnnotationHandler provides createValidationRule abstract method

protected abstract AbstractValidationRule createValidationRule(Annotation annotation, Class class1, String s); 

So,the extended class must provide implementation of

protected abstract AbstractValidationRule createValidationRule(Annotation annotation, Class class1, String s) 

public class CustomPropertyAnnotationHandler extends AbstractPropertyValidationAnnotationHandler
{

    public CustomPropertyAnnotationHandler()
    {
        super(new Class[] {
           XXX.XXX.PackageLevle.CustomAnnotationHandle // as it takes array of custom annotation ,so we can pass more than one 
        // overwriting abstract method
        protected  AbstractValidationRule createValidationRule(Annotation annotation, Class class1, String s){
            CustomAnnotationHandle value = (CustomAnnotationHandle)annotation;
            return TestValidationRule(value.getValue());

            // as you can see it return AbstractValidationRule.So, we need a class to give our bean specific validation rule.In our case it is 

            //TestValidationRule
        }


    }
}

public class TestValidationRule extends AbstractValidationRule
{

    public TestValidationRule (String valuetest)
    {
     super();  
 this.valuetest = valuetest;
    }


Private String valuetest;


}

Spring provides AnnotationBeanValidationConfigurationLoader Class.This class is used for spring own annotation for bean validation.

DefaultValidationAnnotationHandlerRegistry class is used as defaultHandlerRegistry.But if we need to provide our own annotaion then we

need to extend AnnotationBeanValidationConfigurationLoader and set our specific handleregistry via method setHandlerRegistry(new CustomPropertyAnnotationHandler());

Class DefaultValidationAnnotationHandlerRegistry is used to register spring own annotation for bean validation.It register bean by

calling registerPropertyHandler method of SimpleValidationAnnotationHandlerRegistry class.So for our custom annotation we need to

register CustomPropertyAnnotationHandler by calling registerPropertyHandler method of SimpleValidationAnnotationHandlerRegistry class

public class OurBeanSpecificValidationLoader extends AnnotationBeanValidationConfigurationLoader
{

    public OurBeanSpecificValidationLoader ()
    {
super();
        setHandlerRegistry(new OurSpecificAnnotationHandleRegistery ());
    }


}

public class OurSpecificAnnotationHandleRegistery extends DefaultValidationAnnotationHandlerRegistry
{

    public OurSpecificAnnotationHandleRegistery ()
    {
        registerPropertyHandler(new CustomPropertyAnnotationHandler() );
    }
}

so you have your custom annotation for bean valiation.E.g

  @CustomAnnotationHandle(value = "test")
    private Object test;