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SpringMVCForm
Validationwith
AnnotationsTutorial
PostedonMay28,2013bySteveHanson19Comments

Thistutorialwithfullsourcecodewillshowhowtovalidatea
formsubmissioninSpringMVCusingJSR303annotations.
YoucangrabthecodeforthistutorialonGitHubifyouwant
tofollowalong.

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HelloAsciiDoc,
GoodbyeWord
Mavento
Gradle
Dependency
explainthebasicsofsettingupvalidationwithSpringMVC.
Converter
SpringMVC
Prerequisites:
Custom
Youshouldhaveabasicunderstandingofhowtosubmit
Validation
formsusingSpringMVC.Ifyoudonotalreadyunderstand
Annotations
SpringMVCbasics,followsomeofmyotherSpringtutorials
SpringMVC
first.
FormValidation
with
Letsbegin.Togetstarted,wefirstneedacoupleJARsin
Annotations
ourclasspath.AddtheJavavalidationAPIandtheHibernate
Tutorial
ValidatorimplementationJARs:.
SpringMVC
EasyREST
Gradle:
BasedJSON
compile'javax.validation:validationapi:1.1.0.Final'
Serviceswith
compile'org.hibernate:hibernatevalidator:5.0.1.Final'
@ResponseBody
Oneofthemostcommonelementsofwebapplicationsis
validationofuserdata.Anytimeausersubmitsdatainto
yoursystem,itneedstobevalidated.Thisistoprevent
attacks,baddata,andsimpleusererror.Thistutorialwill

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Or,ifyoureusingMaven:
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
<artifactId>validationapi</artifactId>
<version>1.1.0.Final</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
<artifactId>hibernatevalidator</artifactId>
<version>5.0.1.Final</version>
</dependency>

TagCloud
ajaxasciidocbuildtool

gradle
hibernatevalidator jackson

java

jodatime

jsr303markdown
Next,makesureyouactivateSpring`annotationdriven`:

mavenREST servlet

springspringjavaconfig

JavaConfiguration:

springmvc

@Configuration
@EnableWebMVC//thisdoesthetrick
@ComponentScan(basePackages="com.codetutr")
publicclassWebConfig{
//beanshere
}

FollowMe

validationweb

XMLConfiguration:
<mvc:annotationdriven/>
Now,weannotateourmodelobjectwiththeconstraintswe
willbevalidating:
publicclassSubscriber{

@Size(min=2,max=30)
privateStringname;

@NotEmpty@Email
privateStringemail;

@NotNull@Min(13)@Max(110)
privateIntegerage;

@Size(min=10)
privateStringphone;

@NotNull
privateGendergender;

@DateTimeFormat(pattern="MM/dd/yyyy")
@NotNull@Past
privateDatebirthday;

...
}
AllofthevalidationsusedabovearepartoftheJSR303

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Categories
Gradle
Java
Maven
Programming
Spring

API,exceptforNotEmptyandEmail,whichare
HibernateValidatorannotations.
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Almostthere!Now,letstellourcontrollertovalidatethe
forminthesubmissionhandlermethod:

Meta

@Controller
Login
publicclassFormController{
EntriesR S S

...
CommentsR S S

WordPress.org
@RequestMapping(value="form",method=RequestMethod.POST)
publicStringsubmitForm(@ValidSubscribersubscriber,BindingResultresult,Model
if(result.hasErrors()){
return"formPage";
}

m.addAttribute("message","Successfullysavedperson:"
return"formPage";
}
}

Simplyadding`@Valid`tellsSpringtovalidatethe
Subscriberobject.Nice!Noticewealsoadda
BindingResultargument.ThisisSpringsobjectthatholds
theresultofthevalidationandbindingandcontainserrors
thatmayhaveoccurred.TheBindingResultmustcomeright
afterthemodelobjectthatisvalidatedorelseSpringwillfail
tovalidatetheobjectandthrowanexception.
WhenSpringsees@Valid,ittriestofindthevalidatorfor
theobjectbeingvalidated.Springautomaticallypicksup
validationannotationsifyouhaveannotationdriven
enabled.Springtheninvokesthevalidatorandputsany
errorsintheBindingResultandaddstheBindingResultto
theviewmodel.
Now,ourview:
<form:formaction="/form"modelattribute="subscriber"
<labelfor="nameInput">Name:</label>
<form:inputpath="name"id="nameInput"></form:input
<form:errorspath="name"cssclass="error"></form:errors
<br/>

<labelfor="ageInput">Age:</label>
<form:inputpath="age"id="ageInput"></form:input
<form:errorspath="age"cssclass="error"></form:errors
<br/>

<labelfor="phoneInput">Phone:</label>
<form:inputpath="phone"id="phoneInput"></form:input
<form:errorspath="phone"cssclass="error"></form:errors
<br/>

<labelfor="emailInput">Email:</label>
<form:inputpath="email"id="emailInput"></form:input
<form:errorspath="email"cssclass="error"></form:errors
<br/>
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<br/>

<labelfor="birthdayInput">Birthday:</label>
<form:inputpath="birthday"id="birthdayInput"
<form:errorspath="birthday"cssclass="error"></
<br/>

<labelfor="genderOptions">Gender:</label>
<form:selectpath="gender"id="genderOptions">
<form:optionvalue="">SelectGender</form:option
<form:optionvalue="MALE">Male</form:option
<form:optionvalue="FEMALE">Female</form:option
</form:select>
<form:errorspath="gender"cssclass="error"></
<br/>

<labelfor="newsletterCheckbox">Newsletter?</
<form:checkboxpath="receiveNewsletter"id="newsletterCheckbox"
<form:errorspath="receiveNewsletter"cssclass
<br/><br/>
<inputtype="submit"value="Submit"/>
</form:input></form:form>

Theform:errorstagoutputserrorsassociatedwiththe
specifiedpath.
Now,ifwefireupourappandsubmittheformblank,we
see:

Theformalsocorrectlyvalidatesthattheemailaddressisa
validformat,ageisbetween13and110,thephonenumber
isatleast10characterslongandbirthdayisinthepast.
Cool.Buttheerrormessagesareterrible!Howcanwe
customizethem?Theeasiest(thoughnotbest)wayisto
usetheannotationsmessageproperty,likeso:
@Size(min=10,message="Phonenumbermustbeatleast10characters"
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@Size(min=10,message="Phonenumbermustbeatleast10characters"

Thisisnice,butdoesnotsupportinternationalization.Plus,
dowereallywantourmessagesinourJavaobjects?
Fortunately,wecaneasilyoverridethedefaultmessagesin
ourmessagebundle.Todothis,firstsetupamessage
bundle:
JavaConfig:
@Bean
publicMessageSourcemessageSource(){
ResourceBundleMessageSourcemessageSource=new
messageSource.setBasename("messages");
returnmessageSource;
}
XMLConfig:

<beanid="messageSource"class="org.springframework.context.support.ResourceBundleMessa
<propertyname="basename"value="messages"/>
</bean>

Now,createafilecalledmessages.propertiesin
src/main/resources.Now,wecanoverridethedefaulterror
messages.Errormessagesareresolvedusingthefollowing
pattern:
{ValidationClass}.{modelObjectName}.{field}
Forexample,iftheagefieldofoursubscribermodelobject
failstheNotNullvalidation,theNotNull.subscriber.age
messagewouldbelookedup.Ifthemessageisntfound,
NotNull.subscriberwouldbelookedfor.Finally,ifnot
found,NotNullmessagewouldbelookedfor.Ifthatalso
isntfound,thedefaultmessage(whatwesawabove)would
berendered.Withthisconventioninmind,letsdefineour
errormessages:
Size=the{0}fieldmustbebetween{2}and{1}characterslong
Size.subscriber.name=Namemustbebetween{2}and{1}characters
Size.subscriber.phone=Phonemustbeatleast{2}characters

Min.subscriber.age=Youmustbeolderthan{1}
Max.subscriber.age=Sorry,youhavetobeyoungerthan{1}

Email=Emailaddressnotvalid
Past=Datemustbeinthepast

NotEmpty=Fieldcannotbeleftblank
NotNull=Fieldcannotbeleftblank

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typeMismatch=Invalidformat
methodInvocation.myRequest.amount=Invalidformat

Noticetheuseof{0},{1},etc.Theseareargumentsthatcan
bepassedintothemessage.Now,ifwerunourvalidations,
weshouldseenicermessages:

BeforeIsignout,quickusabilitynotethatisoutsidethe
scopeofthistutorial:usefrontendvalidationsalso!
Usersexpecttheconvenienceofimmediatelyknowingif
thereisanerror,sogoaheadandduplicatesomelogicon
thefrontend.
Thatwrapsupthistutorial.Checkoutmynexttutorialon
creatingcustomvalidationannotationstoseehowtoeasily
createvalidationannotationstofityournotsocookiecutter
situations.Istronglyrecommendyoudownloadthesource
andrunthecode.Postanyquestionsyouhaveinthe
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commentsbelow.
FullSource:ZIP,GitHub
Torunthecodefromthistutorial:MusthaveGradle
installed.ClonefromGitHubordownloadtheZIP.Extract.
Opencommandprompttoextractedlocation.Rungradle
jettyRunWar.Navigateinbrowsertohttp://localhost:8080.
References::
Spring3ValidationReference
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PostedinSpringTaggedwith:java,jsr303,springmvc,validation

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Jointhediscussion
avatar42 3yearsago

Toproperlyusecustomerrormessagesyouwill
wantusetheannotationlike:
@Size(min=10,message="
{Size.subscriber.phone}")
Thebracketssurroundingthekeyarerequiredto
makeitworkwhichIfoundunclearinmostofthe
examplesIfoundontheweb.Alsoyouwillneed
tolinkyourmessagesourcetothevalidatorlike
so:
<beanid=validator
class=org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean>
<propertyname=validationMessageSource
ref=messageSource/>
</bean>
<mvc:annotationdrivenvalidator=validator/>
10

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VikasGs 2yearsago

HiSteve,Nicepost!!
Itriedtofollowthestepsshowninyourexample,
buttheformvalidationjustdoesnothappen!
Thevalue"result.hasErrors()"isseenasfalse.
Anysuggestions?
4

Reply Share

sinak1 3yearsago

Igetmultipleerrorsforthevalidationpart.
ThefirstoneisforIntegervalidationfor"age"
field.Itsayssomethinglike:
"javax.validation.UnexpectedTypeException:
HV000030:Novalidatorcouldbefoundfortype:
java.lang.Integer....."
I'vemadesureageisoftypeIntegerandnotint.
thesecondoneIgetisforDatevalidation:
"Cannotconvertfromjava.lang.Stringtorequired
typejava.util.Dateforpropertybirthday"
nestedexceptionis
org.springframework.core.convert.ConversionFailedException:
Failedtoconvertfromtypejava.lang.Stringto
type"
Anysolutionsforthese?CouldIpossiblyhave
missedsomething?
Ialsonoticedwhenrunningtheapponbuiltin
jettyenginetheHibernatevalidationlibrarywould
complainaboutmissingslf4jjarfiles.SoIfixedit
byaddingthefollowingtobuild.gradlein
"dependencies"section:
compile'org.slf4j:slf4japi:1.6.4'
thanks!
4

Reply Share

SharadPawar>sinak1
8monthsago

addfollowingdependencyinyourpom.xml
<dependency>
<groupid>javax.validation</groupid>

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<groupid>javax.validation</groupid>
<artifactid>validationapi</artifactid>
<version>1.1.0.Final</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupid>org.hibernate</groupid>
<artifactid>hibernatevalidator</artifactid>
<version>5.0.1.Final</version>
</dependency>

Reply Share

elnibs 3yearsago

JustatypogroupIdandartifactId(uppercase),
thxforthegreattutorials
1

Reply Share

SteveHanson
3yearsago

Mod >elnibs

Fixed.Thanks@elnibs,gladyouare
enjoyingthem!

Reply Share

Orionix 3yearsago

Awesomeexplanation!
Itisreallyhelpful.
Itisalsowouldbegreatideaifthecustom
validationcaseisexplained.Forexampleif
birthDateshouldn'tbelessthancertaindate,say
nolessthanyearof1900.
1

Reply Share

SteveHanson
3yearsago

Mod >Orionix

Gladitwashelpfultoyou!I'vealmost
finishedapostoncustomvalidation
annotations.Shouldhaveitupinafew
days.Feelfreetoletmeknowifthereare
anyotherpostsyouwouldliketoseeon
here.
EDIT7/9/13:

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EDIT7/9/13:
Customvalidationtutorialnowavailable:
http://codetutr.com/2013/05/29...
1

Reply Share

SharadPawar 8monthsago

FacingErroratGendermembervariableinmodel
class

Reply Share

AlabamaMothman ayearago

Isthereanywaytoputthe(forexample)@size
minandmaxinaconfigbean?
(PosteditIt'sweirdthetextdoesntappearasIve
typedit)...
Forexample:(
<beanid="size"
class="org.javax.valilidate.sizeclass"property=""
name="min"value="18"property=""name="max"
value="150"/>

Reply Share

Sasha ayearago

whydoweneedbothhibernatevalidatorand
javaxvalidator?

Reply Share

StanS.Stanman 2yearsago

Greattutorial,veryhelpful!Iparticularlylikethat
you'veincludedbothJavaConfigandXMLconfig
IuseJavaConfigexclusivelyandsomanysites
provideonlytheXMLconfig.

Reply Share

Arun 2yearsago

Howcanivalidateafieldwhichcanbeemptyorif
givenpropervalue(likeemailormobilenumber)
howtogowiththat

Reply Share

GuidoCelada 2yearsago

checkthecaseinmodelAttributeforform:form

Reply Share

DiogoMiranda 2yearsago

GreatexplanationSteve,isitpossiblevalidatea

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GreatexplanationSteve,isitpossiblevalidatea
Calendarattribute?

Reply Share

Guest 3yearsago

Ihavedonewhatyousaid,speciallyI'musing
@Emailannotation,butwhenIsubmittheformI
getanexceptionfromhibernate
Listofconstraintviolations:[
ConstraintViolationImpl{interpolatedMessage='not
awellformedemailaddress',
propertyPath=correo,rootBeanClass=class
com.blah.baseProject.database.model.Usuario,
messageTemplate='{org.hibernate.validator.constraints.Email.message}'}
]]
anyclue?
Nicetutorialbtw.

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