JSR-303 validation groups define a default group

Question

I have a bean that has a lot of fields annotated with JSR-303 validation annotations. There is a new requirement now that one of the fields is mandatory, but only in certain

Answer 1

There is a Default group in javax.validation.groups.Default, which represents the default Bean Validation group. Unless a list of groups is explicitly defined:

• constraints belong to the Default group
• validation applies to the Default group

You could extends this group:

public interface ValidatedOnCreationOnly extends Default {}

Answer 2

just wanted to add more:

if you're using spring framework you can use org.springframework.validation.Validator

@Autowired
private Validator validator;

and to perform validation manually:

validator.validate(myObject, ValidationErrorsToException.getInstance());

and in controller:

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
public Callable<ResultObject> post(@RequestBody @Validated(MyObject.CustomGroup.class) MyObject request) {
    // logic
}

although in this way extending from javax.validation.groups.Default won't work so you have to include Default.class in groups:

class MyObject {

    @NotNull(groups = {Default.class, CustomGroup.class})
    private String id;

    public interface CustomGroup extends Default {}
}