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

I suggest you another possible solution. Perhaps less elegant, but easier!

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

  private String passVerify;

  @AssertTrue(message="passVerify field should be equal than pass field")
  private boolean isValid() {
    return this.pass.equals(this.passVerify);
  }
}

isValid() method is invoked by the validator automatically.

Answer 2

I like the idea from Jakub Jirutka to use Spring Expression Language. If you don't want to add another library/dependency (assuming that you already use Spring), here is a simplified implementation of his idea.

The constraint:

@Constraint(validatedBy=ExpressionAssertValidator.class)
@Target({ElementType.TYPE})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface ExpressionAssert {
    String message() default "expression must evaluate to true";
    Class<?>[] groups() default {};
    Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};
    String value();
}

The validator:

public class ExpressionAssertValidator implements ConstraintValidator<ExpressionAssert, Object> {
    private Expression exp;

    public void initialize(ExpressionAssert annotation) {
        ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
        exp = parser.parseExpression(annotation.value());
    }

    public boolean isValid(Object value, ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
        return exp.getValue(value, Boolean.class);
    }
}

Apply like this:

@ExpressionAssert(value="pass == passVerify", message="passwords must be same")
public class MyBean {
    @Size(min=6, max=50)
    private String pass;
    private String passVerify;
}

Answer 3

I don't have the reputation for commenting on the first answer but wanted to add that I have added unit tests for the winning answer and have the following observations:

• If you get the first or field names wrong then you get a validation error as though the values don't match. Don't get tripped up by spelling mistakes e.g.

@FieldMatch(first="invalidFieldName1", second="validFieldName2")

• The validator will accept equivalent data types i.e. these will all pass with FieldMatch:

private String stringField = "1";

private Integer integerField = new Integer(1)

private int intField = 1;

• If the fields are of an object type which does not implement equals, the validation will fail.

Answer 4

I have tried Alberthoven's example (hibernate-validator 4.0.2.GA) and i get an ValidationException: „Annotated methods must follow the JavaBeans naming convention. match() does not.“ too. After I renamed the method from „match“ to "isValid" it works.

public class Password {

    private String password;

    private String retypedPassword;

    public Password(String password, String retypedPassword) {
        super();
        this.password = password;
        this.retypedPassword = retypedPassword;
    }

    @AssertTrue(message="password should match retyped password")
    private boolean isValid(){
        if (password == null) {
            return retypedPassword == null;
        } else {
            return password.equals(retypedPassword);
        }
    }

    public String getPassword() {
        return password;
    }

    public String getRetypedPassword() {
        return retypedPassword;
    }

}

Answer 5

Very nice solution bradhouse. Is there any way to apply the @Matches annotation to more than one field?

EDIT: Here's the solution I came up with to answer this question, I modified the Constraint to accept an array instead of a single value:

@Matches(fields={"password", "email"}, verifyFields={"confirmPassword", "confirmEmail"})
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 code for the annotation:

package springapp.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 "{springapp.util.constraints.matches}";

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

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

  String[] fields();

  String[] verifyFields();
}

And the implementation:

package springapp.util.constraints;

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

import org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtils;

public class MatchesValidator implements ConstraintValidator<Matches, Object> {

    private String[] fields;
    private String[] verifyFields;

    public void initialize(Matches constraintAnnotation) {
        fields = constraintAnnotation.fields();
        verifyFields = constraintAnnotation.verifyFields();
    }

    public boolean isValid(Object value, ConstraintValidatorContext context) {

        boolean matches = true;

        for (int i=0; i<fields.length; i++) {
            Object fieldObj, verifyFieldObj;
            try {
                fieldObj = BeanUtils.getProperty(value, fields[i]);
                verifyFieldObj = BeanUtils.getProperty(value, verifyFields[i]);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                //ignore
                continue;
            }
            boolean neitherSet = (fieldObj == null) && (verifyFieldObj == null);
            if (neitherSet) {
                continue;
            }

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

            if (!tempMatches) {
                addConstraintViolation(context, fields[i]+ " fields do not match", verifyFields[i]);
            }

            matches = matches?tempMatches:matches;
        }
        return matches;
    }

    private void addConstraintViolation(ConstraintValidatorContext context, String message, String field) {
        context.disableDefaultConstraintViolation();
        context.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate(message).addNode(field).addConstraintViolation();
    }
}

Answer 6

Why not try Oval: http://oval.sourceforge.net/

I looks like it supports OGNL so maybe you could do it by a more natural

@Assert(expr = "_value ==_this.pass").