Cross field validation with Hibernate Validator (J

Question

Is there an implementation of (or third-party implementation for) cross field validation in Hibernate Validator 4.x? If not, what is the cleanest way to implement a cross field validator?

As an example, how can you use the API to validate two bean properties are equal (such as validating a password field matches the password verify field).

In annotations, I'd expect something like:

public class MyBean {
  @Size(min=6, max=50)
  private String pass;

  @Equals(property="pass")
  private String passVerify;
}

Answer 1

Use @EqualProperties from this dedicated JSR-303 constraint library:

@EqualProperties({"pass", "passVerify"})
public class MyBean {

  @Size(min=6, max=50)
  @NotNull
  private String pass;

  @NotNull
  private String passVerify;

}

Answer 2

With Hibernate Validator 4.1.0.Final I recommend using @ScriptAssert:

@ScriptAssert(lang = "javascript", script = "_this.passVerify.equals(_this.pass)")
public class MyBean {
  @Size(min=6, max=50)
  private String pass;

  private String passVerify;
}

Nothing wrong with a custom class level validator @Matches solution.

Answer 3

I'm surprised this isn't available out of the box. Anyway, here is a possible solution.

I've created a class level validator, not the field level as described in the original question.

Here is the annotation code:

package com.moa.podium.util.constraints;

import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.*;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.*;

import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

import javax.validation.Constraint;
import javax.validation.Payload;

@Target({TYPE, ANNOTATION_TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy = MatchesValidator.class)
@Documented
public @interface Matches {

  String message() default "{com.moa.podium.util.constraints.matches}";

  Class<?>[] groups() default {};

  Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};

  String field();

  String verifyField();
}

And the validator itself:

package com.moa.podium.util.constraints;

import org.mvel2.MVEL;

import javax.validation.ConstraintValidator;
import javax.validation.ConstraintValidatorContext;

public class MatchesValidator implements ConstraintValidator<Matches, Object> {

  private String field;
  private String verifyField;


  public void initialize(Matches constraintAnnotation) {
    this.field = constraintAnnotation.field();
    this.verifyField = constraintAnnotation.verifyField();
  }

  public boolean isValid(Object value, ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
    Object fieldObj = MVEL.getProperty(field, value);
    Object verifyFieldObj = MVEL.getProperty(verifyField, value);

    boolean neitherSet = (fieldObj == null) && (verifyFieldObj == null);

    if (neitherSet) {
      return true;
    }

    boolean matches = (fieldObj != null) && fieldObj.equals(verifyFieldObj);

    if (!matches) {
      context.disableDefaultConstraintViolation();
      context.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate("message")
          .addNode(verifyField)
          .addConstraintViolation();
    }

    return matches;
  }
}

Note that I've used MVEL to inspect the properties of the object being validated. This could be replaced with the standard reflection APIs or if it is a specific class you are validating, the accessor methods themselves.

The @Matches annotation can then be used used on a bean as follows:

@Matches(field="pass", verifyField="passRepeat")
public class AccountCreateForm {

  @Size(min=6, max=50)
  private String pass;
  private String passRepeat;

  ...
}

As a disclaimer, I wrote this in the last 5 minutes, so I probably haven't ironed out all the bugs yet. I'll update the answer if anything goes wrong.

Answer 4

Each field constraint should be handled by a distinct validator annotation, or in other words it's not suggested practice to have one field's validation annotation checking against other fields; cross-field validation should be done at the class level. Additionally, the JSR-303 Section 2.2 preferred way to express multiple validations of the same type is via a list of annotations. This allows the error message to be specified per match.

For example, validating a common form:

@FieldMatch.List({
        @FieldMatch(first = "password", second = "confirmPassword", message = "The password fields must match"),
        @FieldMatch(first = "email", second = "confirmEmail", message = "The email fields must match")
})
public class UserRegistrationForm  {
    @NotNull
    @Size(min=8, max=25)
    private String password;

    @NotNull
    @Size(min=8, max=25)
    private String confirmPassword;

    @NotNull
    @Email
    private String email;

    @NotNull
    @Email
    private String confirmEmail;
}

The Annotation:

package constraints;

import constraints.impl.FieldMatchValidator;

import javax.validation.Constraint;
import javax.validation.Payload;
import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE;
import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.TYPE;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

/**
 * Validation annotation to validate that 2 fields have the same value.
 * An array of fields and their matching confirmation fields can be supplied.
 *
 * Example, compare 1 pair of fields:
 * @FieldMatch(first = "password", second = "confirmPassword", message = "The password fields must match")
 * 
 * Example, compare more than 1 pair of fields:
 * @FieldMatch.List({
 *   @FieldMatch(first = "password", second = "confirmPassword", message = "The password fields must match"),
 *   @FieldMatch(first = "email", second = "confirmEmail", message = "The email fields must match")})
 */
@Target({TYPE, ANNOTATION_TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy = FieldMatchValidator.class)
@Documented
public @interface FieldMatch
{
    String message() default "{constraints.fieldmatch}";

    Class<?>[] groups() default {};

    Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};

    /**
     * @return The first field
     */
    String first();

    /**
     * @return The second field
     */
    String second();

    /**
     * Defines several <code>@FieldMatch</code> annotations on the same element
     *
     * @see FieldMatch
     */
    @Target({TYPE, ANNOTATION_TYPE})
    @Retention(RUNTIME)
    @Documented
            @interface List
    {
        FieldMatch[] value();
    }
}

The Validator:

package constraints.impl;

import constraints.FieldMatch;
import org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtils;

import javax.validation.ConstraintValidator;
import javax.validation.ConstraintValidatorContext;

public class FieldMatchValidator implements ConstraintValidator<FieldMatch, Object>
{
    private String firstFieldName;
    private String secondFieldName;

    @Override
    public void initialize(final FieldMatch constraintAnnotation)
    {
        firstFieldName = constraintAnnotation.first();
        secondFieldName = constraintAnnotation.second();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isValid(final Object value, final ConstraintValidatorContext context)
    {
        try
        {
            final Object firstObj = BeanUtils.getProperty(value, firstFieldName);
            final Object secondObj = BeanUtils.getProperty(value, secondFieldName);

            return firstObj == null && secondObj == null || firstObj != null && firstObj.equals(secondObj);
        }
        catch (final Exception ignore)
        {
            // ignore
        }
        return true;
    }
}

Answer 5

You guys are awesome. Really amazing ideas. I like Alberthoven's and McGin's most, so I decided to combine both ideas. And develop some generic solution to cater all cases. Here is my proposed solution.

@Documented
@Constraint(validatedBy = NotFalseValidator.class)
@Target({ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.FIELD,ElementType.TYPE})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface NotFalse {


    String message() default "NotFalse";
    String[] messages();
    String[] properties();
    String[] verifiers();

    Class<?>[] groups() default {};

    Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};

}

---

public class NotFalseValidator implements ConstraintValidator<NotFalse, Object> {
    private String[] properties;
    private String[] messages;
    private String[] verifiers;
    @Override
    public void initialize(NotFalse flag) {
        properties = flag.properties();
        messages = flag.messages();
        verifiers = flag.verifiers();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isValid(Object bean, ConstraintValidatorContext cxt) {
        if(bean == null) {
            return true;
        }

        boolean valid = true;
        BeanWrapper beanWrapper = PropertyAccessorFactory.forBeanPropertyAccess(bean);

        for(int i = 0; i< properties.length; i++) {
           Boolean verified = (Boolean) beanWrapper.getPropertyValue(verifiers[i]);
           valid &= isValidProperty(verified,messages[i],properties[i],cxt);
        }

        return valid;
    }

    boolean isValidProperty(Boolean flag,String message, String property, ConstraintValidatorContext cxt) {
        if(flag == null || flag) {
            return true;
        } else {
            cxt.disableDefaultConstraintViolation();
            cxt.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate(message)
                    .addPropertyNode(property)
                    .addConstraintViolation();
            return false;
        }

    }



}

---

@NotFalse(
        messages = {"End Date Before Start Date" , "Start Date Before End Date" } ,
        properties={"endDateTime" , "startDateTime"},
        verifiers = {"validDateRange" , "validDateRange"})
public class SyncSessionDTO implements ControllableNode {
    @NotEmpty @NotPastDate
    private Date startDateTime;

    @NotEmpty
    private Date endDateTime;



    public Date getStartDateTime() {
        return startDateTime;
    }

    public void setStartDateTime(Date startDateTime) {
        this.startDateTime = startDateTime;
    }

    public Date getEndDateTime() {
        return endDateTime;
    }

    public void setEndDateTime(Date endDateTime) {
        this.endDateTime = endDateTime;
    }


    public Boolean getValidDateRange(){
        if(startDateTime != null && endDateTime != null) {
            return startDateTime.getTime() <= endDateTime.getTime();
        }

        return null;
    }

}

Answer 6

Cross fields validations can be done by creating custom constraints.

Example:- Compare password and confirmPassword fields of User instance.

CompareStrings

@Target({TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy=CompareStringsValidator.class)
@Documented
public @interface CompareStrings {
    String[] propertyNames();
    StringComparisonMode matchMode() default EQUAL;
    boolean allowNull() default false;
    String message() default "";
    Class<?>[] groups() default {};
    Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};
}

StringComparisonMode

public enum StringComparisonMode {
    EQUAL, EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE, NOT_EQUAL, NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE
}

CompareStringsValidator

public class CompareStringsValidator implements ConstraintValidator<CompareStrings, Object> {

    private String[] propertyNames;
    private StringComparisonMode comparisonMode;
    private boolean allowNull;

    @Override
    public void initialize(CompareStrings constraintAnnotation) {
        this.propertyNames = constraintAnnotation.propertyNames();
        this.comparisonMode = constraintAnnotation.matchMode();
        this.allowNull = constraintAnnotation.allowNull();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isValid(Object target, ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
        boolean isValid = true;
        List<String> propertyValues = new ArrayList<String> (propertyNames.length);
        for(int i=0; i<propertyNames.length; i++) {
            String propertyValue = ConstraintValidatorHelper.getPropertyValue(String.class, propertyNames[i], target);
            if(propertyValue == null) {
                if(!allowNull) {
                    isValid = false;
                    break;
                }
            } else {
                propertyValues.add(propertyValue);
            }
        }

        if(isValid) {
            isValid = ConstraintValidatorHelper.isValid(propertyValues, comparisonMode);
        }

        if (!isValid) {
          /*
           * if custom message was provided, don't touch it, otherwise build the
           * default message
           */
          String message = context.getDefaultConstraintMessageTemplate();
          message = (message.isEmpty()) ?  ConstraintValidatorHelper.resolveMessage(propertyNames, comparisonMode) : message;

          context.disableDefaultConstraintViolation();
          ConstraintViolationBuilder violationBuilder = context.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate(message);
          for (String propertyName : propertyNames) {
            NodeBuilderDefinedContext nbdc = violationBuilder.addNode(propertyName);
            nbdc.addConstraintViolation();
          }
        }    

        return isValid;
    }
}

ConstraintValidatorHelper

public abstract class ConstraintValidatorHelper {

public static <T> T getPropertyValue(Class<T> requiredType, String propertyName, Object instance) {
        if(requiredType == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid argument. requiredType must NOT be null!");
        }
        if(propertyName == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid argument. PropertyName must NOT be null!");
        }
        if(instance == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid argument. Object instance must NOT be null!");
        }
        T returnValue = null;
        try {
            PropertyDescriptor descriptor = new PropertyDescriptor(propertyName, instance.getClass());
            Method readMethod = descriptor.getReadMethod();
            if(readMethod == null) {
                throw new IllegalStateException("Property '" + propertyName + "' of " + instance.getClass().getName() + " is NOT readable!");
            }
            if(requiredType.isAssignableFrom(readMethod.getReturnType())) {
                try {
                    Object propertyValue = readMethod.invoke(instance);
                    returnValue = requiredType.cast(propertyValue);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace(); // unable to invoke readMethod
                }
            }
        } catch (IntrospectionException e) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Property '" + propertyName + "' is NOT defined in " + instance.getClass().getName() + "!", e);
        }
        return returnValue; 
    }

    public static boolean isValid(Collection<String> propertyValues, StringComparisonMode comparisonMode) {
        boolean ignoreCase = false;
        switch (comparisonMode) {
        case EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
        case NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            ignoreCase = true;
        }

        List<String> values = new ArrayList<String> (propertyValues.size());
        for(String propertyValue : propertyValues) {
            if(ignoreCase) {
                values.add(propertyValue.toLowerCase());
            } else {
                values.add(propertyValue);
            }
        }

        switch (comparisonMode) {
        case EQUAL:
        case EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            Set<String> uniqueValues = new HashSet<String> (values);
            return uniqueValues.size() == 1 ? true : false;
        case NOT_EQUAL:
        case NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            Set<String> allValues = new HashSet<String> (values);
            return allValues.size() == values.size() ? true : false;
        }

        return true;
    }

    public static String resolveMessage(String[] propertyNames, StringComparisonMode comparisonMode) {
        StringBuffer buffer = concatPropertyNames(propertyNames);
        buffer.append(" must");
        switch(comparisonMode) {
        case EQUAL:
        case EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            buffer.append(" be equal");
            break;
        case NOT_EQUAL:
        case NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            buffer.append(" not be equal");
            break;
        }
        buffer.append('.');
        return buffer.toString();
    }

    private static StringBuffer concatPropertyNames(String[] propertyNames) {
        //TODO improve concating algorithm
        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
        buffer.append('[');
        for(String propertyName : propertyNames) {
            char firstChar = Character.toUpperCase(propertyName.charAt(0));
            buffer.append(firstChar);
            buffer.append(propertyName.substring(1));
            buffer.append(", ");
        }
        buffer.delete(buffer.length()-2, buffer.length());
        buffer.append("]");
        return buffer;
    }
}

User

@CompareStrings(propertyNames={"password", "confirmPassword"})
public class User {
    private String password;
    private String confirmPassword;

    public String getPassword() { return password; }
    public void setPassword(String password) { this.password = password; }
    public String getConfirmPassword() { return confirmPassword; }
    public void setConfirmPassword(String confirmPassword) { this.confirmPassword =  confirmPassword; }
}

Test

    public void test() {
        User user = new User();
        user.setPassword("password");
        user.setConfirmPassword("paSSword");
        Set<ConstraintViolation<User>> violations = beanValidator.validate(user);
        for(ConstraintViolation<User> violation : violations) {
            logger.debug("Message:- " + violation.getMessage());
        }
        Assert.assertEquals(violations.size(), 1);
    }

Output Message:- [Password, ConfirmPassword] must be equal.

By using the CompareStrings validation constraint, we can also compare more than two properties and we can mix any of four string comparison methods.

ColorChoice

@CompareStrings(propertyNames={"color1", "color2", "color3"}, matchMode=StringComparisonMode.NOT_EQUAL, message="Please choose three different colors.")
public class ColorChoice {

    private String color1;
    private String color2;
    private String color3;
        ......
}

Test

ColorChoice colorChoice = new ColorChoice();
        colorChoice.setColor1("black");
        colorChoice.setColor2("white");
        colorChoice.setColor3("white");
        Set<ConstraintViolation<ColorChoice>> colorChoiceviolations = beanValidator.validate(colorChoice);
        for(ConstraintViolation<ColorChoice> violation : colorChoiceviolations) {
            logger.debug("Message:- " + violation.getMessage());
        }

Output Message:- Please choose three different colors.

Similarly, we can have CompareNumbers, CompareDates, etc cross-fields validation constraints.

P.S. I have not tested this code under production environment (though I tested it under dev environment), so consider this code as Milestone Release. If you find a bug, please write a nice comment. :)