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Get Custom Validation Errors into BindingResult

I'm trying to remove repeating code from my Spring Controllers, specifically - removing the need to execute the validator.validate(form, bindingResult) from the start of many of my functions.
I have a few classes that have corresponding validator classes that implement Spring's validator interface. I have searched around to try and find an answer but I'm having trouble finding one that really matches this.
Snippet of Person Form Class with annotated attributes
public class Person {
#Size(min=1, message="Name missing")
private String name;
#Size(min=1, message="Age missing")
private String age;
.... getters and setters etc.
Person Validator Class
#Component
public class PersonValidator implements Validator {
#Override
public boolean supports(Class<?> clazz) {
return Person.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz);
}
#Override
public void validate(Object target, Errors errors) {
errors.reject("No sir!");
}
}
Ideally, I'd like to be able to have all the errors contained within the BindingResult, including the errors from the validator class. So that when I use the #Validated annotation my BindingResult is fully populated with all the errors from both the simple annotations and the custom validator.
Desired Outcome
#RequestMapping(value="/save", method=RequestMethod.POST)
public #ResponseBody String save(#Validated #RequestBody Person personForm, BindingResult bindingResult, HttpServletRequest request)
{
bindingResult.getAllErrors(); <-- fully pop with annotation and custom validator errors
Instead of:
#RequestMapping(value="/save", method=RequestMethod.POST)
public #ResponseBody String save(#Validated #RequestBody Person personForm, BindingResult bindingResult, HttpServletRequest request)
{
personValidator.validate(person, bindingResult) <-- Populate bindingResult with customer validator errors, if any
bindingResult.getAllErrors();
Has anyone got any neat examples they can share to get around this?
Thanks!

You need to add the validator to the databinder for multiple validators to work. In your code add an #InitBinder method and add the PersonValidator to the WebDataBinder.
#InitBinder("personForm")
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder wdb) {
wdb.addValidators(personValidator);
}
Will bind a validator to the personForm model object.
This will configure a global rule that this validator is applied to all bindings/conversions. If you want to limit this to a certain model you can specify the name of the model in the #InitBinder.
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder wdb) {
wdb.addValidators(personValidator);
}

As possible solution, you can define your own custom annotation and CustomConstraintValidator that will implement interface ConstraintValidator<A extends Annotation, T>.
At the end BindingResult will contain either default validator and your custom validator errors.
Here is a good example. If I understand your question correctly of course.

Spring form submission with minum boilerplate

I've been trying to figure out what the best practice is for form submission with spring and what the minimum boilerplate is to achieve that.
I think of the following as best practise traits
Validation enabled and form values preserved on validation failure
Disable form re-submission F5 (i.e. use redirects)
Prevent the model values to appear in the URL between redirects (model.clear())
So far I've come up with this.
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/")
public class MyModelController {
#ModelAttribute("myModel")
public MyModel myModel() {
return new MyModel();
}
#GetMapping
public String showPage() {
return "thepage";
}
#PostMapping
public String doAction(
#Valid #ModelAttribute("myModel") MyModel myModel,
BindingResult bindingResult,
Map<String, Object> model,
RedirectAttributes redirectAttrs) throws Exception {
model.clear();
if (bindingResult.hasErrors()) {
redirectAttrs.addFlashAttribute("org.springframework.validation.BindingResult.myModel", bindingResult);
redirectAttrs.addFlashAttribute("myModel", myModel);
} else {
// service logic
}
return "redirect:/thepage";
}
}
Is there a way to do this with less boilerplate code or is this the least amount of code required to achieve this?

First, I wouldn't violate the Post/Redirect/Get (PRG) pattern, meaning I would only redirect if the form is posted successfully.
Second, I would get rid of the BindingResult style altogether. It is fine for simple cases, but once you need more complex notifications to reach the user from service/domain/business logic, things get hairy. Also, your services are not much reusable.
What I would do is pass the bound DTO directly to the service, which would validate the DTO and put a notification in case of errors/warning. This way you can combine business logic validation with JSR 303: Bean Validation.
For that, you can use the Notification Pattern in the service.
Following the Notification Pattern, you would need a generic notification wrapper:
public class Notification<T> {
private List<String> errors = new ArrayList<>();
private T model; // model for which the notifications apply
public Notification<T> pushError(String message) {
this.errors.add(message);
return this;
}
public boolean hasErrors() {
return !this.errors.isEmpty();
}
public void clearErrors() {
this.errors.clear();
}
public String getFirstError() {
if (!hasErrors()) {
return "";
}
return errors.get(0);
}
public List<String> getAllErrors() {
return this.errors;
}
public T getModel() {
return model;
}
public void setModel(T model) {
this.model = model;
}
}
Your service would be something like:
public Notification<MyModel> addMyModel(MyModelDTO myModelDTO){
Notification<MyModel> notification = new Notification();
//if(JSR 303 bean validation errors) -> notification.pushError(...); return notification;
//if(business logic violations) -> notification.pushError(...); return notification;
return notification;
}
And then your controller would be something like:
Notification<MyModel> addAction = service.addMyModel(myModelDTO);
if (addAction.hasErrors()) {
model.addAttribute("myModel", addAction.getModel());
model.addAttribute("notifications", addAction.getAllErrors());
return "myModelView"; // no redirect if errors
}
redirectAttrs.addFlashAttribute("success", "My Model was added successfully");
return "redirect:/thepage";
Although the hasErrors() check is still there, this solution is more extensible as your service can continue evolving with new business rules notifications.
Another approach which I will keep very short, is to throw a custom RuntimeException from your services, this custom RuntimeException can contain the necessary messages/models, and use #ControllerAdvice to catch this generic exception, extract the models and messages from the exception and put them in the model. This way, your controller does nothing but forward the bound DTO to service.

Based on the answer by #isah, if redirect happens only after successful validation the code can be simplified to this:
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/")
public class MyModelController {
#ModelAttribute("myModel")
public MyModel myModel() {
return new MyModel();
}
#GetMapping
public String showPage() {
return "thepage";
}
#PostMapping
public String doAction(
#Valid #ModelAttribute("myModel") MyModel myModel,
BindingResult bindingResult,
RedirectAttributes redirectAttrs) throws Exception {
if (bindingResult.hasErrors()) {
return "thepage";
}
// service logic
redirectAttrs.addFlashAttribute("success", "My Model was added successfully");
return "redirect:/thepage";
}
}

One possible way is to use Archetype for Web forms, Instead of creating simple project, you can choose to create project from existing archetype of web forms. It will provide you with sufficient broiler plate code. You can also make your own archetype.
Have a look at this link to get deeper insight into archetypes.
Link To Archetypes in Java Spring

Spring-MVC form validation highlight input field after DAO validation

I'm converting Struts 1.3 project to Spring. Instead of struts form fields, I'm using spring form.
I have used ActionErrors in struts to highlight the field using errorStyleClass attribute.
Similarly, in spring cssErrorClass is available. But, How to use it after the dao validation?
#RequestMapping(value = "/login", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public String login(#ModelAttribute("login") #Validated Login login, BindingResult result, Model model) {
if (result.hasErrors()) {
//THIS VALIDATION DONE BY ANNOTATION AND HIGHLIGHTING THE FIELD
//USING "cssErrorClass"
return HOMEPAGE;
}
boolean checkAuthentication = authService.checkAuthentication(login);
if(!checkAuthentication){
// HOW TO SET THE ERROR HERE?
// Is there any way to set the error like
// error.setMessage("userId","invalid.data");
// so that, is it possible to display error message by
// highlighting the fields using "cssErrorClass"?
}
return HOMEPAGE;
}

You need to annotate your entities using Java Bean Validation framework JSR 303, like this
public class Model{
#NotEmpty
String filed1;
#Range(min = 1, max = 150)
int filed2;
....
}
And add #Valid to your controller, like this
public class MyController {
public String controllerMethod(#Valid Customer customer, BindingResult result) {
if (result.hasErrors()) {
// process error
} else {
// process without errors
}
}
You can find more examples for it here and here
EDIT:
If you want to register more errors based on custom validation steps in code, you can use rejectValue() method in the BindingResult instance, like this:
bindingResult.rejectValue("usernameField", "error code", "Not Found username message");

Spring MVC (RESTful API): Validating payload dependent on a path variable

Use Case:
let's design a RESTful create operation using POST HTTP verb - creating tickets where creator (assigner) specifies a ticket assignee
we're creating a new "ticket" on following location: /companyId/userId/ticket
we're providing ticket body containing assigneeId:
{
"assigneeId": 10
}
we need to validate that assigneeId belongs to company in URL - companyId path variable
So far:
#RequestMapping(value="/{companyId}/{userId}/ticket", method=POST)
public void createTicket(#Valid #RequestBody Ticket newTicket, #PathVariable Long companyId, #PathVariable Long userId) {
...
}
we can easily specify a custom Validator (TicketValidator) (even with dependencies) and validate Ticket instance
we can't easily pass companyId to this validator though! We need to verify that ticket.assigneeId belongs to company with companyId.
Desired output:
ability to access path variables in custom Validators
Any ideas how do I achieve the desired output here?

If we assume that our custom validator knows desired property name, then we can do something like this:
Approach one:
1) We can move this getting path variables logic to some kind of a base validator:
public abstract class BaseValidator implements Validator {
#Override
public boolean supports(Class<?> clazz)
{
// supports logic
}
#Override
public void validate(Object target, Errors errors)
{
// some base validation logic or empty if there isn't any
}
protected String getPathVariable(String name) {
// Getting current request (Can be autowired - depends on your implementation)
HttpServletRequest req = HttpServletRequest((ServletRequestAttributes) RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes()).getRequest();
if (req != null) {
// getting variables map from current request
Map<String, String> variables = req.getAttribute(HandlerMapping.URI_TEMPLATE_VARIABLES_ATTRIBUTE);
return variables.get(name);
}
return null;
}
}
2) Extend it with your TicketValidator implementation:
public class TicketValidator extends BaseValidator {
#Override
public void validate(Object target, Errors errors)
{
// Getting our companyId var
String companyId = getPathVariable("companyId");
...
// proceed with your validation logic. Note, that all path variables
// is `String`, so you're going to have to cast them (you can do
// this in `BaseValidator` though, by passing `Class` to which you
// want to cast it as a method param). You can also get `null` from
// `getPathVariable` method - you might want to handle it too somehow
}
}
Approach two:
I think it worth to mention that you can use #PreAuthorize annotation with SpEL to do this kind of validation (You can pass path variables and request body to it). You'll be getting HTTP 403 code though if validation woudnt pass, so I guess it's not exaclty what you want.

You could always do this:
#Controller
public class MyController {
#Autowired
private TicketValidator ticketValidator;
#RequestMapping(value="/{companyId}/{userId}/ticket", method=POST)
public void createTicket(#RequestBody Ticket newTicket,
#PathVariable Long companyId, #PathVariable Long userId) {
ticketValidator.validate(newTicket, companyId, userId);
// do whatever
}
}
Edit in response to the comment:
It doesn't make sense to validate Ticket independently of companyId when the validity of Ticket depends on companyId.
If you cannot use the solution above, consider grouping Ticket with companyId in a DTO, and changing the mapping like this:
#Controller
public class MyController {
#RequestMapping(value="/{userId}/ticket", method=POST)
public void createTicket(#Valid #RequestBody TicketDTO ticketDto,
#PathVariable Long userId) {
// do whatever
}
}
public class TicketDTO {
private Ticket ticket;
private Long companyId;
// setters & getters
}

Spring MVC and JSR-303 hibernate conditional validation

I've a form I want to validate. It contains 2 Address variables. address1 has always to be validated, address2 has to be validated based on some conditions
public class MyForm {
String name;
#Valid Address address1;
Address address2;
}
public class Address {
#NotEmpty
private String street;
}
my controller automatically validates and binds my form obj
#RequestMapping(...)
public ModelAndView edit(
#ModelAttribute("form")
#Valid
MyForm form,
BindingResult bindingResult,
...)
if(someCondition) {
VALIDATE form.address2 USING JSR 303
the problem is that if I use the LocalValidatorFactoryBean validator i can't reuse the BinidingResult object provided by Spring. The bind won't work as the target object of 'result' is 'MyForm' and not 'Address'
validate(form.getAddress2(), bindingResult) //won't work
I'm wondering what's the standard/clean approach to do conditional validation.
I was thinking in programmatically create a new BindingResult in my controller.
final BindingResult bindingResultAddress2 = new BeanPropertyBindingResult(address2, "form");
validate(form.getAddress2(), bindingResultAddress2);
but then the List of errors I obtain from bindingResultAddress2 can't be added to the general 'bindingResult' as the field names are not correct ('street' instead of 'address2.street') and the binding won't work.
Some dirty approach would be to extend BeanPropertyBindingResult to accept some string to append to the fields name.. do you have a better approach?

The standard approach for validating hierarchical structures is to use pushNestedPath()/popNestedPath(), though I'm not sure how it plays with JSR-303:
bindingResult.pushNestedPath("address2");
validate(form.getAddress2(), bindingResult);
bindingResult.popNestedPath();

I've never tried myself, but I think the correct approach is using validator groups.

First of all, let's see #javax.validation.Valid API
Mark an association as cascaded. The associated object will be validated by cascade.
When Spring framework uses #Valid as a marker to validate its command objects, it corrupts its purpose. Spring should instead create your own specific annotation which specifies the groups which should be validated.
Unfortunately, you should use Spring native Validator API if you need to validate some groups
public void doSomething(Command command, Errors errors) {
new BeanValidationValidator(SomeUserCase.class, OtherUserCase.class)
.validate(command, errors);
if(errors.hasErrors()) {
} else {
}
}
BeanValidationValidator can be implemented as
public class BeanValidationValidator implements Validator {
javax.validation.Validator validator = ValidatorUtil.getValidator();
private Class [] groups;
public BeanValidationValidator(Class... groups) {
this.groups = groups;
}
public void validate(Object command, Errors errors) {
Set<ConstraintViolation<Object>> constraintViolationSet = validator.validate(command, groups);
for(ConstraintViolation<Object> constraintViolation: constraintViolationSet) {
errors.rejectValue(constraintViolation.getPropertyPath().toString(), null, constraintViolation.getMessage());
}
}
}