Cross field validation with Hibernate Validator (JSR 303)

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 fi

Answer 1

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[] payload() default {};
}

StringComparisonMode

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

CompareStringsValidator

public class CompareStringsValidator implements ConstraintValidator {

    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 propertyValues = new ArrayList (propertyNames.length);
        for(int i=0; i

ConstraintValidatorHelper

public abstract class ConstraintValidatorHelper {

public static  T getPropertyValue(Class 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 propertyValues, StringComparisonMode comparisonMode) {
        boolean ignoreCase = false;
        switch (comparisonMode) {
        case EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
        case NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            ignoreCase = true;
        }

        List values = new ArrayList (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 uniqueValues = new HashSet (values);
            return uniqueValues.size() == 1 ? true : false;
        case NOT_EQUAL:
        case NOT_EQUAL_IGNORE_CASE:
            Set allValues = new HashSet (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> violations = beanValidator.validate(user);
        for(ConstraintViolation 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> colorChoiceviolations = beanValidator.validate(colorChoice);
        for(ConstraintViolation 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. :)