Implementing custom validation logic for a spring boot endpoint using a combination of JSR-303 and Spring's Validator

Question

I\'m trying to implement some custom validation logic for a spring boot endpoint using a combination of JSR-303 Bean Validation API and Spring\'s Validato

Answer 1

Per @M.Deinum - using addValidators() instead of setValidator() did the trick. I also agree that using JSR-303, @AssertTrue method-based annotation specifically for cross fields validation, is probably a cleaner solution. A code example is available at https://github.com/pavelfomin/spring-boot-rest-example/tree/feature/custom-validator. In the example, the middle name validation is performed via custom spring validator while last name validation is handled by the default jsr 303 validator.

Answer 2

This problem can be solved extending the LocalValidatorFactoryBean, you can override the validate method inside this class giving any behavior that you want.

In my case I need to use JSR-303 AND custom validators for same model in different methods in same Controller, normally is recommended to use @InitBinder, but it is not sufficient for my case because InitBinder make a bind between Model and Validator (if you use @RequestBody InitBinder is just for one model and one validator per Controller).

Controller

@RestController
public class LoginController {

    @PostMapping("/test")
    public Test test(@Validated(TestValidator.class) @RequestBody Test test) {
        return test;
    }

    @PostMapping("/test2")
    public Test test2(@Validated @RequestBody Test test) {
        return test;
    }
}

Custom Validator

public class TestValidator implements org.springframework.validation.Validator {

    @Override
    public boolean supports(Class<?> clazz) {
        return Test.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz);
    }

    @Override
    public void validate(Object target, Errors errors) {
        Test test = (Test) target;
        errors.rejectValue("field3", "weird");
        System.out.println(test.getField1());
        System.out.println(test.getField2());
        System.out.println(test.getField3());
     }
}

Class to be validate

public class Test {

    @Size(min = 3)
    private String field2;

    @NotNull
    @NotEmpty
    private String field1;

    @NotNull
    @Past
    private LocalDateTime field3;

    //...
    //getter/setter
    //...
}

CustomLocalValidatorFactoryBean

public class CustomLocalValidatorFactoryBean extends LocalValidatorFactoryBean {

    private Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());

    @Override
    public void validate(@Nullable Object target, Errors errors, @Nullable Object... validationHints) {
        Set<Validator> concreteValidators = new LinkedHashSet<>();
        Set<Class<?>> interfaceGroups = new LinkedHashSet<>();
        extractConcreteValidatorsAndInterfaceGroups(concreteValidators, interfaceGroups, validationHints);
        proccessConcreteValidators(target, errors, concreteValidators);
        processConstraintViolations(super.validate(target, interfaceGroups.toArray(new Class<?>[interfaceGroups.size()])), errors);
    }

    private void proccessConcreteValidators(Object target, Errors errors, Set<Validator> concreteValidators) {
        for (Validator validator : concreteValidators) {
            validator.validate(target, errors);
        }
    }

    private void extractConcreteValidatorsAndInterfaceGroups(Set<Validator> concreteValidators, Set<Class<?>> groups, Object... validationHints) {
        if (validationHints != null) {
            for (Object hint : validationHints) {
                if (hint instanceof Class) {
                    if (((Class<?>) hint).isInterface()) {
                        groups.add((Class<?>) hint);
                    } else {
                        Optional<Validator> validatorOptional = getValidatorFromGenericClass(hint);
                        if (validatorOptional.isPresent()) {
                            concreteValidators.add(validatorOptional.get());
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    private Optional<Validator> getValidatorFromGenericClass(Object hint) {
        try {
            Class<Validator> clazz = (Class<Validator>) Class.forName(((Class<?>) hint).getName());
            return Optional.of(clazz.newInstance());
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException | InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException e) {
            logger.info("There is a problem with the class that you passed to "
                    + " @Validated annotation in the controller, we tried to "
                    + " cast to org.springframework.validation.Validator and we cant do this");
        }
        return Optional.empty();
    }

}

Configure application

@SpringBootApplication
public class Application {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }

    @Bean
    public javax.validation.Validator localValidatorFactoryBean() {
        return new CustomLocalValidatorFactoryBean();
    }
}

Input to /test endpoint:

{
    "field1": "",
    "field2": "aaaa",
    "field3": "2018-04-15T15:10:24"
}

Output from /test endpoint:

{
    "timestamp": "2018-04-16T17:34:28.532+0000",
    "status": 400,
    "error": "Bad Request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "codes": [
                "weird.test.field3",
                "weird.field3",
                "weird.java.time.LocalDateTime",
                "weird"
            ],
            "arguments": null,
            "defaultMessage": null,
            "objectName": "test",
            "field": "field3",
            "rejectedValue": "2018-04-15T15:10:24",
            "bindingFailure": false,
            "code": "weird"
        },
        {
            "codes": [
                "NotEmpty.test.field1",
                "NotEmpty.field1",
                "NotEmpty.java.lang.String",
                "NotEmpty"
            ],
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "codes": [
                        "test.field1",
                        "field1"
                    ],
                    "arguments": null,
                    "defaultMessage": "field1",
                    "code": "field1"
                }
            ],
            "defaultMessage": "Não pode estar vazio",
            "objectName": "test",
            "field": "field1",
            "rejectedValue": "",
            "bindingFailure": false,
            "code": "NotEmpty"
        }
    ],
    "message": "Validation failed for object='test'. Error count: 2",
    "path": "/user/test"
}

Input to /test2 endpoint:

{
    "field1": "",
    "field2": "aaaa",
    "field3": "2018-04-15T15:10:24"
}

Output to /test2 endpoint:

{
    "timestamp": "2018-04-16T17:37:30.889+0000",
    "status": 400,
    "error": "Bad Request",
    "errors": [
        {
            "codes": [
                "NotEmpty.test.field1",
                "NotEmpty.field1",
                "NotEmpty.java.lang.String",
                "NotEmpty"
            ],
            "arguments": [
                {
                    "codes": [
                        "test.field1",
                        "field1"
                    ],
                    "arguments": null,
                    "defaultMessage": "field1",
                    "code": "field1"
                }
            ],
            "defaultMessage": "Não pode estar vazio",
            "objectName": "test",
            "field": "field1",
            "rejectedValue": "",
            "bindingFailure": false,
            "code": "NotEmpty"
        }
    ],
    "message": "Validation failed for object='test'. Error count: 1",
    "path": "/user/test2"
}

I hope this help.