JSR-349: Bean Validation TCK Coverage

Applying a constraint annotation to an incompatible type will raise an UnexpectedTypeException.

At most one ConstraintValidator supporting cross-parameter validation must be present for a given constraint. A ConstraintDefinitionException is raised otherwise.

If a constraint definition is not valid, a ConstraintDefinitionException is raised either at validation time or when the metadata is requested.

A constraint definition may have attributes that are specified at the time the constraint is applied to a JavaBean.

Annotation elements starting with valid are not allowed

Every constraint annotation must define a message element of type String.

Every constraint annotation must define a groups element that specifies the processing groups with which the constraint declaration is associated.

The type of the groups parameter is Class<?>[].

The default value must be an empty array.

If no group is specified when declaring the constraint on an element, the Default group is considered declared.

Constraint annotations must define a payload element that specifies the payload with which the constraint declaration is associated. The type of the payload parameter is Payload[].

The default value must be an empty array.

Each attachable payload extends Payload.

The element validationAppliesTo must only be present for constraints that are both generic and cross-parameter, it is mandatory in this situation. A ConstraintDefinitionException is raised if these rules are violated.

The type of the validationAppliesTo parameter is ConstraintTarget. The default value must be ConstraintTarget.IMPLICIT.

If a ConstraintTarget is used in an illegal situation, a ConstraintDeclarationException is raised either at validation time or when the metadata is requested.

Using IMPLICIT in a situation that cannot be inferred (see the JavaDoc for the detailed rules),

Using PARAMETERS on a constructor or method that has no parameter,

Using RETURN_VALUE on a method with no return value,

Using PARAMETERS or RETURN_VALUE on a type - class or interface - or on a field.

The bean validation provider treats regular annotations (annotations not annotated by @Constraint) whose value element has a return type of an array of constraint annotations in a special way. Each element in the value array are processed by the Bean Validation implementation as regular constraint annotations.

More formally, each constraint annotation hosted on a constraint annotation is applied to the target element and this is done recursively.

Note that the main annotation and its constraint validation implementation is also applied.

By default, each failing constraint generates an error report.

Groups from the main constraint annotation are inherited by the composing annotations.

Any groups definition on a composing annotation is ignored.

Payload from the main constraint annotation is inherited by the composing annotations.

Any payload definition on a composing annotation is ignored.

The constraint target from the main constraint annotation is inherited by the composing annotations.

Any validationAppliesTo definition on a composing annotation is ignored.

The type upon which composed constraint is placed must be compatible with all constraints (composing and composed).

All composed and composing constraints must have a constraint type in common.

More specifically, if a composed constraint is marked as @ReportAsSingleViolation, the evaluation of the composing constraints stops at the first failing constraint and the error report corresponding to the composed constraint is generated and returned.

Composing annotations can define the value of message and custom attributes (excluding groups, payload and validationAppliesTo) but these are fixed in the composed constraint definition.

It is possible to override attributes and messages defined on a composing annotation. An attribute from the main annotation is used to override one or more attributes of the composing annotations. Such an attribute is annotated with the @OverridesAttribute annotation or its multivalued equivalent @OverridesAttribute.List.

The types of the overridden and overriding attributes must be identical.

A composing constraint can itself be a composed constraint. In this case, attribute values are overridden recursively according to the described rules.

If a constraint is used more than once as a composing constraint, the multi value constraints model as described in 3.2 is used.

To select a specific composing constraint, OverridesAttribute.constraintIndex is used. It represents the constraint index in the value array.

If index is undefined, the single constraint declaration is targeted.

If the composition is invalid, e.g. infinitely recursive composition wrong attribute overriding a single attribute mapped to more than one source attribute a composing and composed constraint marked as different constraint types (i.e., generic and cross-parameter) etc. a ConstraintDefinitionException is raised either at validation time or when the metadata is requested.

A constraint validation implementation performs the validation of a given constraint annotation for a given type.

The implementation classes are specified by the validatedBy element of the @Constraint annotation that decorates the constraint definition.

By default, a ConstraintValidator targets the (returned) element annotated by the constraint. You can make a ConstraintValidator target the array of parameters of a method or constructor (aka cross-parameter) by annotating the validator implementation with @SupportedValidationTarget.

A ConstraintValidator implementation can target both annotated elements and array of parameters.

If a ConstraintValidator targets array of parameters (cross-parameter), T must resolve to Object[] (or Object) in order to have the array of parameter values passed to the isValid() method. A ConstraintDefinitionException is raised otherwise.

The initialize() method is called by the Bean validation provider prior to any use of the constraint implementation.

The isValid() method is evaluated by the Bean Validation provider each time a given value is validated.

If the property is of an unanticipated type, an UnexpectedTypeException is raised.

If an exception occurs either in the initialize() or isValid() method, the runtime exception is wrapped into a ValidationException by the Bean Validation engine.

By default, each invalid constraint leads to the generation of one error object represented by a ConstraintViolation object. This object is built from the default constraint message template as defined by the constraint declaration and the context in which the constraint declaration is placed (bean, property, executable parameter, cross-parameter or executable return value).

The ConstraintValidatorContext methods let the constraint implementation disable the default ConstraintViolation generation and create one or more custom ones.

The non-interpolated message passed as a parameter is used to build the ConstraintViolation message (the message interpolation operation is applied to it).

By default, the Path exposed on the ConstraintViolation represents the path to the bean, property, parameter, cross-parameter or return value hosting the constraint (see 5.2 for more information).

You can point it to a subpath of this default path by using the constraint violation builder fluent API.

If disableDefaultConstraintViolation() is called, no custom error is added (using the error builder) and if the constraint is not valid, a ValidationException is raised.

The default ConstraintValidatorFactory provided by the Bean Validation provider implementation uses the public no-arg constructor of the ConstraintValidator class.

If an exception occurs in the factory while retrieving the ConstraintValidator instance, the runtime exception is wrapped in a ValidationException.

If the instance returned by the factory is null, a ValidationException is raised.

Properties to be validated must follow the method signature conventions for JavaBeans read properties, as defined by the JavaBeans specification. These properties are commonly referred as getters.

Constraints can be applied to interfaces and superclasses.

What is a getter? The JavaBeans specification specifies that a getter is a method whose name starts with get and has a return type but no parameter name starts with is, has no parameter and is returning boolean

The target of an annotation definition can be a field, property, type, constructor or method return value, constructor or method parameter or constructor or method cross-parameter provided that: the constraint definition supports the specified target (java.lang.annotation.Target) one of the ConstraintValidators declared on the constraint supports the declared type of the target or in the case of cross-parameter, one cross-parameter ConstraintValidator is present (see 4.6.4 to learn about ConstraintValidator resolution).

Constraint declarations can be applied to a class or an interface.

Applying a constraint to a class or interface expresses a validation over the state of the class or the class implementing the interface.

Constraint declarations can be applied on both fields and properties for the same object type.

The same constraint should however not be duplicated between a field and its associated property (the constraint validation would be applied twice).

When a field is annotated with a constraint declaration, field access strategy is used to access the state validated by such constraint.

When a property is annotated with a constraint declaration, property access strategy is used to access the state validated by such constraint.

The fields or methods visibility are not constrained.

Consider the situation where bean X contains a field of type Y. By annotating field Y with the @Valid annotation, the Validator will validate Y (and its properties) when X is validated.

The exact type Z of the value contained in the field declared of type Y (subclass, implementation) is determined at runtime. The constraint definitions of Z are used.

Any object implementing java.lang.Iterable is supported.

Arrays of objects

java.util.Collection

java.util.Set

java.util.List

java.util.Map

Each object provided by the iterator is validated.

For Map, the value (retrieved by getValue) of each Map.Entry is validated (the key is not validated).

Like regular references, its type is determined at runtime and the constraint definitions for this particular type are used.

The @Valid annotation is applied recursively.

When a constraint is defined on a class, the class instance being validated is passed to the ConstraintValidator. When a constraint is defined on a field, the value of the field is passed to the ConstraintValidator. When a constraint is defined on a getter, the result of the getter invocation is passed to the ConstraintValidator.

A constraint declaration can be placed on an interface.

For a given class, constraint declarations held on superclasses as well as interfaces are evaluated by the Bean Validation provider.

The effect of constraint declarations is cumulative. Constraints declared on a superclass getter will be validated along with any constraints defined on an overridden version of the getter according to the Java Language Specification visibility rules.

If no group is explicitly declared, a constraint belongs to the Default group.

Groups are represented by interfaces.

A constraint can belong to one or more groups.

During the validation call, one or more groups are validated. All the constraints belonging to this set of group is evaluated on the object graph.

A group may inherit one or more groups by using interface inheritance.

For a given interface Z, constraints marked as belonging to the group Z (i.e. where the annotation element groups contains the interface Z) or any of the super interfaces of Z (inherited groups) are considered part of the group Z.

Each group in a group sequence must be processed sequentially in the order defined by @GroupSequence.value when the group defined as a sequence is requested.

Note that a group member of a sequence can itself be composed of several groups via inheritance or sequence definition. In this case, each composed group must respect the sequence order as well.

If one of the groups processed in the sequence generates one or more constraint violations, the groups following in the sequence must not be processed.

Groups defining a sequence and groups composing a sequence must not be involved in a cyclic dependency: either directly or indirectly either through cascaded sequence definitions or group inheritance

If a group containing such a circularity is evaluated, a GroupDefinitionException is raised.

To define a group as a sequence, the interface must be annotated with the @GroupSequence annotation.

A given constraint can belong to two or more groups ordered by a sequence. In this case, the constraint is evaluated as part of the first group and ignored in the subsequent group(s).

To redefine Default for a class, place a @GroupSequence annotation on the class; this sequence expresses the sequence of groups that does substitute Default for this class.

A sequence defined on a class A (i.e. redefining the Default groups for the class) must contain the group A.

If a @GroupSequence redefining the Default group for a class A does not contain the group A, a GroupDefinitionException is raised when the class is validated or when its metadata is requested.

Every constraint hosted on an interface Z and part of the Default group (implicitly or explicitly) belongs to the group Z.

@ConvertGroup and @ConvertGroup.List can be used everywhere @Valid can be used (associations, method/constructor parameters and return value). If these annotations are used without @Valid, a ConstraintDeclarationException is raised.

Groups are passed as is to the nested elements unless the @ConvertGroup annotation is used.

If the group expected to be passed to the nested element validation is defined as the from attribute of a @ConvertGroup annotation, the group used to effectively validate the nested element is the corresponding group defined in the to attribute.

Rules are not executed recursively.

It is not legal to have more than one conversion rule containing the same from value. In this case, a ConstraintDeclarationException is raised.

Like regular constraint declarations, the from attribute cannot refer to a group sequence. A ConstraintDeclarationException is raised in this situation.

The to attribute can. The group sequence will then be expanded before validating the associated object.

@ConvertGroup and @ConvertGroup.List can only be placed where @Valid is present to ensure proper respect of the Liskov substitution principle

Likewise, if a sub type overrides/implements a method originally defined in several parallel types of the hierarchy (e.g. two interfaces not extending each other, or a class and an interface not implemented by said class) and if that method's return value has been marked for cascading validation in one of the parallel types, no group conversion rule may be declared for that method's return value in the parallel types of the hierarchy.

If any of these rules is violated, a ConstraintDeclarationException is raised by default as defined in 4.5.5.

If X has no @GroupSequence annotation, the group Default contains the following constraints: every constraint in the group X if X has a direct superclass Y, every constraint in the group Default of Y

If X does have a @GroupSequence annotation, the group Default contains every constraint belonging to every group declared by the @GroupSequence annotation.

If a group definition leads to a circular sequencing order between groups, a GroupDefinitionException is raised.

Parameter constraints are declared by putting constraint annotations on method or constructor parameters.

Cross-parameter constraints are declared by putting cross-parameter constraint annotations on methods or constructors

It is not legal to declare a cross-parameter constraint on a method or constructor which has no parameters. A ConstraintDeclarationException is raised in this case.

They are known to be both generic and cross-parameter constraints. When using such a constraint on an executable to target the parameters, one must set validationAppliesTo if there is an ambiguity.

A conforming Bean Validation implementation provides a default ParameterNameProvider implementation which returns parameter names in the form argPARAMETERINDEX, where PARAMETERINDEX starts at 0 for the first parameter, e.g. arg0, arg1 etc.

If an exception occurs during invocation of the getParameterNames() methods, this exception is wrapped into a ValidationException by the Bean Validation engine.

Return value constraints are declared by putting constraint annotations directly on a method or constructor.

They are known to be both generic and cross-parameter constraints. When using such constraint on an executable to target the return value, one must set validationAppliesTo in case there is an ambiguity.

The @Valid annotation is used to declare that a cascaded validation of the given method/constructor parameters or return values is performed by the Bean Validation provider. When marked, the parameter or return value is considered a bean object to validate.

Null arguments and null return values are ignored

The validation is recursive; that is, if validated parameter or return value objects have references marked with @Valid themselves, these references will also be validated

In sub types (be it sub classes/interfaces or interface implementations), no parameter constraints may be declared on overridden or implemented methods, nor may parameters be marked for cascaded validation. This would pose a strengthening of preconditions to be fulfilled by the caller.

If a sub type overrides/implements a method originally defined in several parallel types of the hierarchy (e.g. two interfaces not extending each other, or a class and an interface not implemented by said class), no parameter constraints may be declared for that method at all nor parameters be marked for cascaded validation. This again is to avoid an unexpected strengthening of preconditions to be fulfilled by the caller.

In sub types (be it sub classes/interfaces or interface implementations), return value constraints may be declared on overridden or implemented methods and the return value may be marked for cascaded validation. Upon validation, all return value constraints of the method in question are validated, wherever they are declared in the hierarchy. This only poses possibly a strengthening but no weakening of the method's postconditions guaranteed to the caller.

One must not mark a method return value for cascaded validation more than once in a line of a class hierarchy. In other words, overriding methods on sub types (be it sub classes/interfaces or interface implementations) cannot mark the return value for cascaded validation if the return value has already been marked on the overridden method of the super type or interface.

Out of the box, a conforming Bean Validation provider must throw a ConstraintDeclarationException when discovering that any of these rules are violated.

The above rules do not apply when validating constructor constraints as constructors do not override one another. Parameter and return value constraints can be applied to any constructor in the type hierarchy, but only the constraints defined directly on the validated constructor are evaluated.

For a given group, the validation routine applied on a given bean instance is expected to execute the following constraint validations in no particular order: for all reachable fields, execute all field level validations (including the ones expressed on superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. for all reachable getters, execute all getter level validations (including the ones expressed on interfaces and superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. execute all class level validations (including the ones expressed on interfaces and superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. for all reachable and cascadable associations, execute all cascading validations (see 4.6.1) including the ones expressed on interfaces and superclasses (see 4.4.6). Note that group conversion can apply (see 4.4.5).

The object validation routine is described as such. For each constraint declaration: determine for the constraint declaration, the appropriate ConstraintValidator to use (see 4.6.4). execute the isValid operation (from the constraint validation implementation) on the appropriate data (see 3.4) if isValid() returns true, continue to the next constraint, if isValid() returns false, the Bean Validation provider populates ConstraintViolation object(s) according to the rules defined in 3.4 and appends these objects to the list of constraint violations.

The @Valid annotation on a given association (i.e. object reference or collection, array, Iterable of objects), dictates the Bean Validator implementation to apply recursively the Bean Validation routine on (each of) the associated object(s).

This mechanism is recursive: an associated object can itself contain cascaded references.

Null references are ignored.

To prevent infinite loops, the Bean Validation implementation must ignore the cascading operation if the associated object instance has already been validated in the current navigation path (starting from the root object).

@Valid is an orthogonal concept to the notion of group. If two groups are in sequence, the first group must pass for all associated objects before the second group is evaluated.

For a given group, the validation routine applied to validate parameters of a method or constructor is expected to execute the following constraint validations in no particular order: execute all parameter validations (in case of overriding method validation, including the ones expressed on overridden methods of the interfaces and superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. execute all cross parameter validations (in case of overriding method validation, including the ones expressed on overridden methods of the interfaces and superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. for all parameters marked for cascaded validation, execute all cascading validations (see 4.6.1), in case of overriding method validation including the ones expressed on overridden methods of the interfaces and superclasses (see 4.4.6). Note that group conversion can apply (see 4.4.5).

For a given group, the validation routine applied to validate the return value of a method or constructor is expected to execute the following constraint validations in no particular order: execute all return value validations (including the ones expressed on interfaces and superclasses) matching the targeted group unless the given validation constraint has already been processed during this validation routine for a given navigation path (see 4.6.1) as part of a previous group match. if the return value is marked for cascaded validation, execute all cascading validations (see 4.6.1) including the ones expressed on interfaces and superclasses (see 4.4.6). Note that group conversion can apply (see 4.4.5).

isReachable() is called for every property about to be accessed either for validation or for cascading.

isCascadable() is called for every property about to be cascaded (i.e. marked as @Valid).

isCascadable() for a given property is only called if isReachable() returns true. In other words, isReachable() is always called before isCascadable() for a given property.

traversableObject is the object instance being evaluated. null if the check is triggered as part of a validateValue() call.

traversableProperty is the Node representing the property hosted by the traversableObject being considered for traversal. The name of a property is defined in 4.1.2.

rootBeanType is the class of the root being validated, i.e. either the type of the object passed to the validate method or the type declaring the validated method/constructor in case of method validation).

pathToTraversableObject is the Path from the rootBeanType down to the traversableObject. If the root object is traversableObject, pathToTraversableObject is composed of a single Node whose name is null. The path is described following the conventions described in 5.2 (getPropertyPath).

elementType is the java.lang.annotation.ElementType the annotation is placed on. It can be either FIELD or METHOD. Any other value is not expected.

The Bean Validation provider must not access the state of a property, nor validate its constraints if the property is not traversable. A property is traversable if TraversableResolver returns true for this property.

If an exception occurs when the TraversableResolver is called, the exception is wrapped into a ValidationException.

The following elements are not passed through the traversable resolver filter: the bean instance validated the method and constructor parameter values being validated the method and constructor return value being validated

But the properties of these elements (if validated) are. In this case the complete path is provided via pathToTraversableObject.

The list of ConstraintValidators can contain at most one which targets cross-parameter. If the constraint targets the parameters of an executable either implicitly or by the use of validationAppliesTo in the constraint - see 3.1.1.4, then the cross-parameter ConstraintValidator is used. If none is present, a ConstraintDefinitionException is raised. If more than one cross-parameter ConstraintValidator is present, a ConstraintDefinitionException is raised.

If the constraint is a generic constraint, the following rules apply. If the constraint declaration is hosted on a class or an interface, the targeted type is the class or the interface.

If the constraint is hosted on a class attribute, the type of the attribute is the targeted type.

If the constraint is hosted on a getter, the return type of the getter is the targeted type.

The ConstraintValidator chosen to validate the generic constraint on a declared type T is the one where the ConstraintValidator targets the annotated element, where the type supported by the ConstraintValidator is a supertype of T and where there is no other ConstraintValidator whose supported type is a supertype of T and not a supertype of the chosen ConstraintValidator supported type.

Only ConstraintValidator implementations targeting annotated elements are considered.

Primitive types are considered equivalent to their respective primitive wrapper class.

If no ConstraintValidator compliant with T is found amongst the ConstraintValidators listed by the constraint A, an UnexpectedTypeException is raised.

A ConstraintValidator<A, U> compliant with T is considered strictly more specific than a ConstraintValidator<A, V> compliant with T if U is a strict subtype of V. U is a strict subtype of V if U is a subtype of V and U != V (according to the Java Language Specification 3rd edition chapter 4.10 Subtyping).

If more than one maximally specific ConstraintValidator is found, an UnexpectedTypeException is raised.

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validate(T object, Class<?>... groups) is used to validate a given object.

An IllegalArgumentException is thrown when null is passed for the object parameter or the varargs groups parameter.

A Set containing all ConstraintViolation objects representing the failing constraints is returned, an empty Set is returned otherwise.

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateProperty(T object, String propertyName, Class<?>... groups) validates a given field or property of an object.

An IllegalArgumentException is thrown when validateProperty() is called and object is null or propertyName is null empty or invalid or null is passed to the varargs groups parameter.

The property name is the JavaBeans property name (as defined by the JavaBeans Introspector class).

@Valid is not honored by this method.

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateValue(Class<T> beanType, String propertyName, Object value, Class<?>... groups) validates the property referenced by propertyName present on beanType or any of its superclasses, if the property value were value.

An IllegalArgumentException is thrown when validateValue() is called and object is null or propertyName is null empty or invalid or null is passed to the varargs groups parameter.

@Valid is not honored by this method.

If some unrecoverable failure happens during validation, a ValidationException is raised.

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateParameters(T object, Method method, Object[] parameterValues, Class<?>... groups) validates the arguments (as given in parameterValues) for the parameters of a given method (identified by method). Cross-parameter constraints are also validated.

A set containing all ConstraintViolation objects representing the failing constraints is returned, an empty set is returned if no constraint violation occurred.

An IllegalArgumentException will be thrown if null is passed for any of the parameters or if the parameters don't match with each other (i.e. object and method don't match, parameterValues and method don't match).

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateReturnValue(T object, Method method, Object returnValue, Class<?>... groups) validates the return value (specified by returnValue) of a given method (identified by method).

A set containing all ConstraintViolation objects representing the failing constraints is returned, an empty set is returned if no constraint violation occurred.

An IllegalArgumentException will be thrown if null is passed for any of the parameters object, method and groups or if the parameters don't match with each other (i.e. object and method don't match, returnValue and method don't match).

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateConstructorParameters(Constructor<T> constructor, Object[] parameterValues, Class<?>... groups) validates the arguments (as given in parameterValues) for the parameters of a given constructor (identified by constructor). Cross-parameter constraints are also validated.

A set containing all ConstraintViolation objects representing the failing constraints is returned, an empty set is returned if no constraint violation occurred.

An IllegalArgumentException will be thrown if null is passed for any of the parameters or if the parameters don't match with each other (i.e. parameterValues and constructor don't match).

<T> Set<ConstraintViolation<T>> validateConstructorReturnValue(Constructor<T> constructor, T createdObject, Class<?>... groups) validates the object (specified by createdObject) of a given constructor (identified by constructor).

A set containing all ConstraintViolation objects representing the failing constraints is returned, an empty set is returned if no constraint violation occurred.

An IllegalArgumentException will be thrown if null is passed for any of the parameters or if the parameters don't match with each other (i.e. createdObject and constructor don't match).

None of those methods honor the XML configuration around executable validation nor the presence of @ValidateOnExecution. In other words, elements will be validated regardless of these settings when explicitly calling the validation methods.

All constraints belonging to the targeted group(s) are applied during the 4.6.

If no group is passed, the Default group is assumed.

The getMessage() method returns the interpolated (localized) message for the failing constraint

The getMessageTemplate() method returns the non-interpolated error message

The getRootBean() method returns the root object being validated that led to the failing constraint

For method validation, returns the object the method is executed on. For constructors or when Validator.validateValue() is used, returns null.

The getRootBeanClass() method returns the class of the root bean being validated. For method validation, this is the object class the method is executed on. For constructor validation, this is the class the constructor is declared on.

The getLeafBean() method returns the following object: If a bean constraint, the bean instance the constraint is applied on. If a property constraint, the bean instance hosting the property the constraint is applied on. If a property constraint, null when the ConstraintViolation is returned after calling Validator.validateValue(). If a method parameter, cross-parameter or return value constraint, the object the method is executed on. If a constructor parameter or cross-parameter constraint, null. If a constructor return value constraint, the object the constructor has created.

The getExecutableParameters() returns the parameters provided to the method or constructor invocation or null if not validating the method or constructor parameters.

The getExecutableReturnValue() returns the return value of the method or constructor invocation or null if the method has no return value or if not validating the method or constructor return value.

The getInvalidValue() method returns the value (field, property, method/constructor parameter, method/constructor return value or validated object) being passed to isValid().

For a cross-parameter constraint failure, an Object[] representing the method/constructor invocation arguments is returned.

getConstraintDescriptor() provides access to the failing constraint metadata

The getPropertyPath() method returns the Path object representing the navigation path from the root object to the failing object.

getName() returns the name of the element which the node represents

isInIterable() returns true if the node represents an object contained in an Iterable or in a Map, false otherwise.

getIndex() returns the index of the node if it is contained in an array or List. Returns null otherwise.

getKey() returns the key of the node if it is contained in a Map. Returns null otherwise.

getKind() returns the ElementKind corresponding to the actual node type. This can be used in conjunction with the method as() to narrow the type and access node specific methods

as(Class<? extends Node>) returns the node instance narrowed to the type passed as a parameter or ClassCastException if the type and node don't match.

In particular, MethodNode and ConstructorNode host getParameterTypes() which return the method or constructor parameter list.

Likewise ParameterNode hosts getParameterIndex() which returns the parameter index in the method or constructor parameter list.

The runtime type is considered, not the static type. For example if a property is declared Collection<String> but its runtime type is ArrayList<String>, the property is considered an ArrayList<String>.

If the failing object is the root object, a BeanNode with name set to null is added to the Path. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.BEAN.

A PropertyNode object whose name equals the name of the association property (field name or Java Bean property name) is added to Path. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.PROPERTY.

If the association is a List or an array, the following Node object added contains the index value in getIndex().

If the association is a Map, the following Node object added (representing a given map entry) contains the key value in getKey()

For all Iterable or Map, the following Node object added is marked as inIterable (isInIterable())

For a property level constraint (field and getter) a PropertyNode object is added to Path whose name equals the name of the property (field name or Java Bean property name). The ElementKind of the is ElementKind.PROPERTY. the property path is considered complete

For a class level constraint: a BeanNode object is added to Path whose name is null. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.BEAN. the property path is considered complete

A MethodNode respectively a ConstructorNode object is added to the Path which represents the validated method respectively constructor. The name of the node equals the validated method name or the validated constructor's unqualified class name, the ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.METHOD respectively ElementKind.CONSTRUCTOR.

If the constraint is on a parameter, a ParameterNode object is added to the Path which represents the validated parameter. The name of the node equals the parameter name as determined by the current parameter name provider (see 4.5.2.2). The ElementKind of the node is elementKind.PARAMETER.

If the constraint is a cross-parameter constraint, a CrossParameterNode object is added to the Path which represents the validated cross-parameter element. The name of the node has the constant value <cross-parameter>. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.CROSS_PARAMETER.

If the constraint is on the return value, a ReturnValueNode object is added to the Path which represents the validated return value. The name of the node has the constant value <return value>. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.RETURN_VALUE.

The property path is considered complete

A MethodNode respectively ConstructorNode object is added to the Path which represents the concerned method respectively constructor. The name of the node equals the concerned method name or the constructor's unqualified class name, the ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.METHOD or ElementKind.CONSTRUCTOR, respectively.

If a parameter is traversed, a ParameterNode object is added to the Path which represents the traversed parameter. The name of the node equals the parameter name as determined by the current parameter name provider. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.PARAMETER.

If a return value is traversed, a ReturnValueNode object is added to the Path which represents the traversed return value. The name of the node has the constant value <return value>. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.RETURN_VALUE.

If the parameter/return value is a List or an array, the following Node object added contains the index value in getIndex().

If the parameter/return value is a Map, the following Node object added (representing a given map entry) contains the key value in getKey().

For all Iterable or Map, the following Node object added is marked as inIterable (isInIterable()).

If additional path nodes are added in a constraint validator implementation using the node builder API (see 3.4), the following rules apply: if the default path ends with a BeanNode, this node is removed and the first added node (a PropertyNode) inherits its inIterable, key and index values. inIterable, key and index value must not be specified directly on this first node by the user. if the default path ends with a CrossParameterNode, this node is removed. then the additional nodes are appended to the (possibly amended) path generated by the Bean Validation engine as previously described: A PropertyNode is appended in case addPropertyNode(String) is invoked. The node name is equal to the name provided. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.PROPERTY. A BeanNode is appended in case addBeanNode() is invoked. The node name is null. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.BEAN. A ParameterNode is appended in case addParameterNode(int) is invoked. The node name is equal to the parameter name at the provided index. The name is determined by the current parameter name provider. The ElementKind of the node is ElementKind.PARAMETER. The previous node (removed) must be a CrossParameterNode. if inIterable() is invoked, the node returns true for isInIterable(), false otherwise. if atIndex(Integer) is invoked, the node returns the provided integer for getIndex(), null otherwise. if atKey(Object) is invoked, the node returns the provided object for getKey(), null otherwise.

Every conforming Bean Validation implementation includes a default message interpolator which has to comply with

Each constraint defines a message descriptor via its message property.

Every constraint definition defines a default message descriptor for that constraint.

Messages can be overridden at constraint declaration time by setting the message property on the constraint.

The message descriptor is a string literal and may contain one or more message parameters or expressions. Message parameters and expressions are string literals enclosed in {} or ${} respectively.

\{ is considered as the literal { instead of being considered as the beginning of a message parameter

\} is considered as the literal } instead of being considered as the end of a message parameter

\\ is considered as the literal \ instead of being considered as the escaping character

\$ is considered as the literal $ instead of being considered as the beginning of a message expression

Message parameters are extracted from the message string and used as keys to search the ResourceBundle named ValidationMessages

Step 1 is applied recursively until no replacement is performed

Message parameters are extracted from the message string and used as keys to search the Bean Validation provider's built-in ResourceBundle using the defined locale (see 5.3.1.2). If a property is found, the message parameter is replaced with the property value in the message string.

Message parameters are extracted from the message string. Those matching the name of an attribute of the constraint are replaced by the value of that attribute in the constraint declaration. Parameter interpolation has precedence over message expressions. For example for the message descriptor ${value}, trying to evaluate {value} as message parameter has precedence over evaluating ${value} as message expression.

Message expressions are extracted from the message string and evaluated using Expression Language. See also 5.3.1.3.

If the locale is passed explicitly to the interpolator method via interpolate(String, Context, Locale), this provided instance is used.

Otherwise, the default Locale as provided by Locale.getDefault() is used.

The default message interpolation allows the use of Expression Language (EL) as defined in JSR 341.

Expressions to be evaluated by EL need to be enclosed in ${} within the message descriptor

The attribute values of the constraint declaration mapped to their attribute name

The validated value mapped under the name validatedValue.

A bean mapped to the name formatter exposing the vararg method format(String format, Object... args). This method must behave like java.util.Formatter.format(String format, Object... args). The locale used for formatting is defined by 5.3.1.2. The formatter bean allows to format property values, for example in the case of the validated value being 98.12345678, ${formatter.format('%1$.2f', validatedValue)} would format it to 98.12 (two digits after the decimal point, where the use of '.' vs ',' would be locale specific).

If an exception occurs during message interpolation, e.g. due invalid expressions or references to an unknown property, the message expression stays unchanged.

messageTemplate is the value of the message attribute of the constraint declaration or provided to the ConstraintValidatorContext methods.

getConstraintDescriptor() returns the ConstraintDescriptor object representing the metadata of the failing constraint (see 6).

getValidatedValue() returns the value being validated.

It is possible to override the MessageInterpolator implementation for a given Validator instance by invoking ValidatorFactory.usingContext().messageInterpolator(messageInterpolator).getValidator().

The default implementation is accessible through Configuration.getDefaultMessageInterpolator().

If the interpolation process leads to an exception, the exception is wrapped into a ValidationException.

The validation of method / constructor constraints comprises the following steps: Intercept the method call to be validated Validate the parameter values provided by the method caller using ExecutableValidator.validateParameters() or ExecutableValidator.validateConstructorParameters(). If this validation yields a non-empty set of constraint violations, throw a ConstraintViolationException wrapping the violations. Otherwise proceed with the actual method invocation. Validate the result returned by the invoked method using ExecutableValidator.validateReturnValue() or ExecutableValidator.validateConstructorReturnValue(). If this validation yields a non-empty set of constraint violations, throw a ConstraintViolationException wrapping the violations. Otherwise return the invocation result to the method caller.

The Default group is used for validation out of the box.

A bootstrap implementation must be able to bootstrap any Bean Validation provider implementation.

getMessageInterpolator() returns the MessageInterpolator instance configured during the initialization of the ValidatorFactory.

getTraversableResolver() returns the TraversableResolver instance configured during the initialization of the ValidatorFactory.

getConstraintValidatorFactory() returns the ConstraintValidatorFactory instance configured during the initialization of the ValidatorFactory.

getParameterNameProvider() returns the ParameterNameProvider instance configured during the initialization of the ValidatorFactory.

The MessageInterpolator, the TraversableResolver, the ConstraintValidatorFactory or the ParameterNameProvider passed to the ValidatorContext are used instead of the ValidatorFactory's MessageInterpolator, TraversableResolver, ConstraintValidatorFactory or ParameterNameProvider instances.

Configuration does provide a MessageInterpolator implementation following the default Bean Validation MessageInterpolator rules as defined in 5.3.1. You can access it by calling getDefaultMessageInterpolator().

Configuration does provide a TraversableResolver implementation following the default Bean Validation TraversableResolver rules as defined in 4.6.3. You can access it by calling getDefaultTraversableResolver().

Configuration does provide a ConstraintValidatorFactory implementation following the default Bean Validation ConstraintValidatorFactory rules as defined in 3.5. You can access it by calling getDefaultConstraintValidatorFactory().

Configuration does provide a ParameterNameProvider implementation following the default Bean Validation ParameterNameProvider rules as defined in 4.5.2.2. You can access it by calling getDefaultParameterNameProvider().

Via getBootstrapConfiguration(), Configuration also exposes data stored in META-INF/validation.xml

Using addMapping(), additional constraint mapping XML descriptors can be added to the configuration

Streams not supporting the mark() and reset() methods will be wrapped with an InputStream implementation supporting these methods by the Bean Validation provider in order to allow the streams to be read several times.

It is legal to invoke buildValidatorFactory() several times, e.g. in order to retrieval several ValidatorFactory instances with a slightly different configuration (see ).

A Bean Validation provider must define a sub interface of Configuration uniquely identifying the provider.

The requested provider implementation is resolved according to the following rules in the following order: Use the provider implementation requested if Configuration has been created from Validation.byProvider(Class). Use the provider implementation described in the XML configuration (under validation-config.default-provider see 5.5.6) if defined: the value of this element is the fully qualified class name of the ValidationProvider implementation uniquely identifying the provider. Use the first provider implementation returned by validationProviderResolver.getValidationProviders().

ValidationProviderResolver returns the list of Bean Validation providers available at runtime and more specifically a ValidationProvider instance for each provider available in the context.

A client can request a specific Bean Validation provider by using <T extends Configuration<T>, U extends ValidationProvider<T>> Validation.byProvider(Class<U>) or by defining the provider in the XML configuration file.

The provider discovery mechanism uses the following algorithm: Retrieve available providers using ValidationProviderResolver.getValidationProviders(). The first ValidationProvider matching the requested provider is returned. Providers are evaluated in the order they are returned by ValidationProviderResolver. A provider instance is considered matching if it is assignable to the requested provider class.

When the default Bean Validation provider is requested, the first ValidationProvider returned by the ValidationProviderResolver strategy is returned.

Every Bean Validation provider must provide a ValidationProvider implementation containing a public no-arg constructor

If a problem occurs while building the ValidatorFactory, a ValidationException is raised.

The first entry point, buildDefaultValidatorFactory(), is considered to be the default ValidatorFactory and is equivalent to the ValidatorFactory returned by Validation.byDefaultProvider().configure().buildValidatorFactory().

The second entry point lets the client provide a custom ValidationProviderResolution instance. This instance is passed to GenericBootstrap. GenericBootstrap builds a generic Configuration using the first ValidationProvider returned by ValidationProviderResolution and calling ValidationProvider.createGenericConfiguration(BootstrapState state).

The last entry point lets the client define the specific Bean Validation provider requested as well as a custom ValidationProviderResolver implementation if needed. The entry point method, Validation.byProvider(Class<U> providerType), takes the provider specific ValidationProvider implementation type and returns a ProviderSpecificBootstrap object that guarantees to return an instance of the specific Configuration sub interface.

The Validation implementation must not contain any non private attribute or method aside from the three public static bootstrap methods

The bootstrap implementation must ensure it can bootstrap third party providers.

When bootstrapping a Bean Validation provider, if the ValidationProviderResolver either fails or if the expected provider is not found, a ValidationException is raised.

Unless explicitly ignored by calling Configuration.ignoreXMLConfiguration(), a Configuration takes into account the configuration available in META-INF/validation.xml.

This configuration file is optional

Implementations supporting Bean Validation 1.1 must properly parse deployment descriptors of Bean Validation 1.0 and 1.1.

Unless stated otherwise, XML based configuration settings are overridden by values explicitly set via the Configuration API.

default-provider: represents the class name of the provider specific ValidationProvider implementation class. If defined, the specific provider is used

message-interpolator: represents the fully qualified class name of the MessageInterpolator implementation. When defined in XML, the implementation must have a public no-arg constructor.

traversable-resolver: represents the fully qualified class name of the TraversableResolver implementation. When defined in XML, the implementation must have a public no-arg constructor.

constraint-validator-factory: represents the fully qualified class name of the ConstraintValidatorFactory implementation. When defined in XML, the implementation must have a public no-arg constructor.

parameter-name-provider: represents the fully qualified class name of the ParameterNameProvider implementation. When defined in XML, the implementation must have a public no-arg constructor.

executable-validation: allows to disable executable validation entirely via its attribute enabled="false" and optionally contains default-validated-executable-types. enabled defaults to true.

default-validated-executable-types: declared under executable-validation, contains the list of executable-type that are considered by default by the integration technology validating executables upon execution.

constraint-mapping: represents the resource path of an XML mapping file.

More than one constraint-mapping element can be present.

Mappings provided via Configuration.addMapping(InputStream) are added to the list of mappings described via constraint-mapping.

All these top level elements are optional.

If a public no-arg constructor is missing on any of the classes referenced by the relevant XML elements, a ValidationException is raised during the Configuration.buildValidatorFactory() call.

getConstraintsForClass() returns a BeanDescriptor object describing the bean level constraints (see 4.1.1) and providing access to the property level constraints metadata.

An IllegalArgumentException is raised if the clazz parameter is null.

If a constraint definition or declaration hosted by the requested class (or any of it's superclasses and interfaces according to the constraint propagation rules) is invalid, a ValidationException is raised.

getElementClass() returns the object type when invoked on BeanDescriptor, the type of a property or parameter when invoked on PropertyDescriptor or ParameterDescriptor respectively, Object[].class when invoked on CrossParameterDescriptor, the return type when invoked on ConstructorDescriptor, MethodDescriptor or ReturnValueDescriptor.

getConstraintDescriptors() returns all the ConstraintDescriptors (see 6.11) hosted on the given element in the class hierarchy, each ConstraintDescriptor describing one of the constraints declared on the given element.

hasConstraints() returns true if the given element in the class hierarchy holds at least one constraint declaration.

If you need to query the metadata API in a more fine grained way for example by restricting the constraints to the one described on fields or on getters or by restricting to a given set of groups, you can use the ConstraintFinder fluent API by calling findConstraints().

unorderedAndMatchingGroups() restricts the results to the ConstraintDescriptors (see 6.11) matching the given groups. Order is not respected but group inheritance and inheritance via sequence (including the Default group overriding at the class level) are honored.

declaredOn() lets you restrict the list of element types constraints are hosted on.

lookingAt() lets you restrict which constraints are considered. Either constraints belonging to the element but hosted on the class represented by the given descriptor (Scope.LOCAL_ELEMENT), or constraints belonging to the element but hosted anywhere in the class hierarchy (Scope.HIERARCHY).

isBeanConstrained() returns true if the given class (and superclasses and interfaces) has at least one class-level or property-level constraint or validation cascade.

getConstraintsForProperty() returns a PropertyDescriptor object describing the property level constraints (See 4.1.2). The property is uniquely identified by its name as per the JavaBeans convention: field level and getter level constraints of the given name are all returned.

An IllegalArgumentException is raised if the propertyName parameter is null.

getConstrainedProperties() returns the PropertyDescriptors of the bean properties having at least one constraint or being cascaded (@Valid annotation).

getConstraintsForMethod() returns a MethodDescriptor object describing the method constraints of the given method. The method is uniquely identified by its name and the types of its parameters.

getConstrainedMethods() returns the MethodDescriptors of the methods matching the MethodTypes provided as parameter and having at least one constraint or cascaded parameter or return value.

getConstraintsForConstructor() returns a ConstructorDescriptor object describing the method constraints of the given constructor. The constructor is uniquely identified by its name and the types of its parameters.

getConstrainedConstructors() returns the ConstructorDescriptors of the constructors having at least one constraint or cascaded parameter or return value.

The isCascaded() method returns true if the element is marked for cascaded validation.

The method getGroupConversions() returns a set with the group conversions declared for the cascadable element. An empty set will be returned if no group conversions are configured.

The getFrom() method returns the source of a group conversion rule.

The getTo() method returns the target of a group conversion rule.

getPropertyName() returns the property name as described in 5.2.

getName() returns the name of the represented method (e.g. "placeOrder") respectively the non-qualified name of the declaring class of the represented constructor (e.g. "OrderService").

getParameterDescriptors() returns a list of ParameterDescriptors representing the method's or constructor's parameters in order of their declaration, including synthetic parameters. An empty list will be returned in case the method or constructor has no parameters.

getCrossParameterDescriptor() returns a descriptor containing cross-parameter constraints of the method or constructor. If no cross-parameter constraint is present, the descriptor will return an empty set of constraint descriptors.

getReturnValueDescriptor() returns a descriptor for the method's or constructor's return value. A descriptor representing the special class void, without any constraint descriptors, will be returned for executables which have no return value.

hasConstrainedParameters() returns true if any of the parameters is constrained or cascaded or if the represented executable has at least one cross-parameter constraint. Returns false if there is no parameter.

hasConstrainedReturnValue() returns true if the return value is constrained or cascaded. Returns false if there is no return value.

The methods hasConstraints(), getConstraintDescriptors() and findConstraints() defined on ElementDescriptor are redefined to clarify that executables do not host constraints directly and thus will always return false or an empty set of constraints, respectively. Constraint descriptors for individual parameters can be obtained from the corresponding ParameterDescriptor object, constraint descriptors for cross-parameter constraints can be obtained from the corresponding CrossParameterDescriptor object and constraint descriptors for the return value can be obtained from ReturnValueDescriptor.

None of the metadata API methods honor the XML configuration around executable validation nor the presence of @ValidateOnExecution. In other words, all constrained methods and constructors will be returned by the metadata API regardless of these settings.

getIndex() returns the index of the represented parameter within the parameter array of the method or constructor holding it.

getName() returns the name of the represented parameter.

getElementClass() returns Object[].

getAnnotation() returns the annotation instance (or an annotation instance representing the given constraint declaration).

If ConstraintDescriptor represents a composing annotation (see 3.3), the returned annotation must reflect parameter overriding.

getAttributes() returns a map containing the annotation attribute names as a key, and the annotation attribute values as a value

If ConstraintDescriptor() represents a composing annotation (see 3.3), the returned Map must reflect attribute overriding.

getMessageTemplate() returns the non-interpolated error message.

getGroups() returns the groups the constraint is supposed to be applied upon.

If no group is set on the constraint declaration, the Default group is returned.

The groups of a composing constraint are the groups of the composed constraint.

getPayload() returns the payloads associated to the constraint or an empty set if none.

The payload from the main constraint annotation is inherited by the composing annotations.

Any payload definition on a composing annotation is ignored.

getValidationAppliesTo() returns the ConstraintTarget returned by validationAppliesTo if the constraint hosts the attribute or null otherwise. The constraint target from the main constraint annotation is inherited by the composing annotation. Any constraint target definition on a composing annotation is ignored.

isReportAsSingleViolation() returns true if the constraint is annotated with @ReportAsSingleViolation.

getComposingConstraints() return a set of composing ConstraintDescriptors where each descriptor describes a composing constraint.

getConstraintValidatorClasses() returns the ConstraintValidator classes associated with the constraint.

Each Bean Validation provider must recognize built-in constraint annotations as valid constraint definitions and provide compliant constraint implementations for each.

The built-in constraint validation implementation is having a lower priority than an XML mapping definition.

@Null constraint

@NotNull constraint

@AssertTrue constraint

@AssertFalse constraint

@Min constraint

@Max constraint

@DecimalMin constraint

@DecimalMax constraint

@Size constraint

@Digits constraint

@Past constraint

@Future constraint

@Pattern constraint

Specifically when exploring metadata, the Bean Validation provider must ensure that an annotation instance corresponding to the XML declaration is provided via ConstraintDescriptor.getAnnnotation().

A given class must not be described more than once amongst all the XML mapping descriptors.

A given field or getter must not be described more than once on a given class description.

A given constraint definition must not be overridden more than once amongst all the XML mapping descriptors.

If any of these rule is violated in a given validation deployment, a ValidationException is raised during the creation of the ValidatorFactory.

If default-package is set, all unqualified class names (including annotations) are considered part of the package described by default-package.

A given JavaBean is described by the bean element.

The name of the class is mandatory.

By default, all constraint declarations expressed via annotation are ignored for classes described in XML.

You can force Bean Validation to consider both annotations and XML constraint declarations by using ignore-annotations="false" on bean.

If the name of the class does refer to a class not present in the classpath, a ValidationException is raised.

If ignore-annotations is declared, Bean Validation must honor the explicit value for this element.

If not declared, the default value defined in the encapsulating bean element is considered.

When ignore-annotations is true, class-level Bean Validation annotations are ignored for this class (including the @GroupSequence).

Constraints declared in XML and constraints declared in annotations are added and form the list of class-level declared constraints.

@GroupSequence is considered unless group-sequence element is explicitly used.

If ignore-annotations is declared, Bean Validation must honor the explicit value for this element.

If not declared, the default value defined in the encapsulating bean element is considered.

When ignore-annotations is true, field-level Bean Validation annotations on the targeted field are ignored (including @Valid and @ConvertGroup).

Constraints declared in XML and constraints declared in annotations are added and form the list of field-level declared constraints.

@Valid is considered unless the valid element is explicitly used.

Group conversions declared in XML and via the @ConvertGroup annotation are added and form the list of applied conversions. Note that the rules for the declaration of group conversions as outlined in 4.4.5 apply, in particular it is not legal to declare several conversions for the same source group.

If the name of the field does not correspond to a field in the given bean a ValidationException is raised.

The name attribute corresponds to the name of the property considered as defined in 4.1.2 (for example a getter String getAge() would have <getter name="age"/> as a corresponding descriptor). If ignore-annotations is declared, Bean Validation must honor the explicit value for this element.

If not declared, the default value defined in the encapsulating bean element is considered.

When ignore-annotations is true, property-level Bean Validation annotations on the targeted property are ignored (including @Valid and @ConvertGroup).

Constraints declared in XML and constraints declared in annotations are added and form the list of property-level declared constraints.

@Valid is considered unless the valid element is explicitly used.

Group conversions declared in XML and via the @ConvertGroup annotation are added and form the list of applied conversions. Note that the rules for the declaration of group conversions as outlined in 4.4.5 apply, in particular it is not legal to declare several conversions for the same source group.

If the name of the property does not correspond to a property in the given bean a ValidationException is raised.

To identify a constructor to be configured, zero or more parameter elements are used, matching the number and types of parameters of the configured constructor. When configuring the default constructor, no parameter element is to be used. The parameter types are specified using their fully qualified name using the syntax described in the documentation of java.lang.Class.getName().

Varargs parameters are specified using the corresponding array type, e.g. a parameter String... must be specified as "[Ljava.lang.String;".

If the default-package element is configured for the mapping file, any unqualified class names will be resolved using the given default package.

If no constructor with the specified parameter types exists in the given bean a ValidationException is raised.

The optional return-value element is used to change the configuration of a constructor's return value if required.

The optional cross-parameter element is used to change the configuration of a constructor's cross-parameter constraints if required.

The constraints applying for a constructor's parameters and its return value are specified by adding constraint elements to the parameter and return-value elements respectively.

Whether or not to perform cascaded validation is controlled using the valid element

Group conversion rules for cascaded validation are specified using the convert-group element.

The cross-parameter constraints applied on a constructor parameter list are specified by adding constraint elements to the cross-parameter element.

If ignore-annotations is declared on the parameter, cross-parameter element or return value level, Bean Validation must honor the explicit value for this element. Otherwise, if ignore-annotations is declared for the constructor element, Bean Validation must honor this value. Otherwise, the default value declared in the encapsulating bean element is considered.

When ignore-annotations is true, Bean Validation annotations on the targeted constructor or parameter are ignored (including @Valid and @ConvertGroup).

Constraints declared in XML and constraints declared in annotations are added and form the list of declared parameter, cross-parameter or return value constraints respectively.

@Valid is considered unless the valid element is explicitly used.

Group conversions declared in XML and via the @ConvertGroup annotation are added and form the list of applied conversions. Note that the rules for the declaration of group conversions as outlined in 4.4.5 apply, in particular it is not legal to declare several conversions for the same source group. This does not apply to cross-parameter elements as cascading does not make sense in this situation.

To identify a method to be configured, zero or more parameter elements are used, matching the number and types of parameters of the configured method. The parameter types are specified using their fully qualified name using the syntax described in the documentation of java.lang.Class.getName().

Varargs parameters are specified using the corresponding array type, e.g. a parameter String... must be specified as "[Ljava.lang.String;".

If the default-package element is configured for the mapping file, any unqualified class names will be resolved using the given default package.

A given getter method representing a JavaBeans property may either be configured using the getter or the method element, but not both. If a getter element and a method element referring to the same method are detected by the Bean Validation provider, a ValidationException is raised.

If no method with the specified name and parameter types exists in the given bean a ValidationException is raised.

The optional return-value element is used to change the configuration of a method's return value if required.

The optional cross-parameter element is used to change the configuration of a method's cross-parameter constraints if required.

The constraints applying for a method's parameters and its return value are specified by adding constraint elements to the parameter and return-value elements respectively.

Whether or not to perform cascaded validation is controlled using the valid element.

Group conversion rules for cascaded validation are specified using the convert-group element.

The cross-parameter constraints applied on a method parameter list are specified by adding constraint elements to the cross-parameter element.

If ignore-annotations is declared on the parameter, cross-parameter element or return value level, Bean Validation must honor the explicit value for this element. Otherwise, if ignore-annotations is declared for the method element, Bean Validation must honor this value. Otherwise, the default value declared in the encapsulating bean element is considered.

When ignore-annotations is true, Bean Validation annotations on the targeted method or parameter are ignored (including @Valid and @ConvertGroup).

Constraints declared in XML and constraints declared in annotations are added and form the list of declared parameter, cross-parameter or return value constraints respectively.

@Valid is considered unless the valid element is explicitly used.

Group conversions declared in XML and via the @ConvertGroup annotation are added and form the list of applied conversions. Note that the rules for the declaration of group conversions as outlined in 4.4.5 apply, in particular it is not legal to declare several conversions for the same source group. This does not apply to cross-parameter elements as cascading does not make sense in this situation.

The annotation attribute is the class name of the annotation representing the constraint. Message, groups and payload are defined respectively by the message, groups and payload elements.

The name attribute is mandatory and represents the name of the element in the constraint declaration.

Message, groups and payload are not permitted names, use the message, groups or payload elements instead. Otherwise a ValidationException is raised.

If the element represents a primitive type, a class or an enum, the string representation of its value is placed in the element itself.

If the element represents a primitive type array, a class array or an enum array, the string representation of each value is placed in a value element placed under the element itself.

If the element represents an annotation, the annotation element is used to represent the annotation and placed under element.

If the element represents an array of annotations, one or more annotation elements are placed under element.

Elements with default values in the annotation definition do not have to be represented in XML: the default value will be used in this case.

If an XML constraint declaration is missing mandatory elements, or if it contains elements not part of the constraint definition, a ValidationException is raised.

Group conversion rules are declared by specifying one or more convert-group elements within the field, getter, parameter and return-value elements.

Source and target group of a conversion rule are given by specifying their fully-qualified names within the from and to attribute respectively. If the default-package element is configured for the mapping file, any unqualified class names will be resolved using the given default package.

A constraint definition is represented by a constraint-definition element.

If include-existing-validator is set to false, ConstraintValidator defined on the constraint annotation are ignored.

If set to true, the list of ConstraintValidators described in XML are concatenated to the list of ConstraintValidator described on the annotation to form a new array of ConstraintValidator evaluated.

Annotation based ConstraintValidator come before XML based ConstraintValidators in the array.

The new list is returned by ConstraintDescriptor.getConstraintValidatorClasses().

Primitive types, Class and Enum are represented as strings in the XML descriptor. Elements of an array are represented by the value element.

Byte are represented according to the rules defined in Byte.parseByte(String).

Short are represented according to the rules defined in Short.parseShort(String).

Int are represented according to the rules defined in Integer.parseInt(String).

Long are represented according to the rules defined in Long.parseLong(String).

Float are represented according to the rules defined in Float.parseFloat(String).

Double are represented according to the rules defined in Double.parseDouble(String).

Boolean are represented according to the rules defined in Boolean.parseBoolean(String).

Char are represented according to the following rules: the string must be of one character long the character extracted from the string is the returned char

A Class is represented by the fully qualified class name of the class or more precisely according to the syntax described in the documentation of java.lang.Class.getName(). Note that if the raw string is unqualified, default package is taken into account.

An enum is represented by its enum.name() value.

If any of the string representation does not match its type counterpart, a ValidationException is raised.

Implementations supporting Bean Validation 1.1 must properly parse mapping descriptors of Bean Validation 1.0 and 1.1.

Implementations supporting Bean Validation 1.1 must properly parse configuration descriptors of Bean Validation 1.0 and 1.1.

In case an unknown version is given a ValidationException is raised.

Every (runtime) exception raised either at initialization time or execution time by any of the extension interfaces (ConstraintValidator, ConstraintValidatorFactory, MessageInterpolator, TraversableResolver, ValidationProviderResolver, ParameterNameProvider) is wrapped in a ValidationException.

If a constraint definition does not respect the Bean Validation rules or is inconsistent, a ConstraintDefinitionException is raised.

When the return type of a property cannot be processed for a given constraint an UnexpectedTypeException is raised.

When a group definition is illegal, GroupDefinitionException is raised.

Build and bootstrap the ValidatorFactory instance for an application.

Provide access to the ValidatorFactory instance as well as Validator instances in their default configuration using the paradigm of the container: for example, such instances would be injectable in other objects via a dependency injection framework.

Configure ValidatorFactory with a custom ConstraintValidatorFactory instance that returns managed ConstraintValidator instances, unless a custom ConstraintValidatorFactory is requested by the user. The scope of ConstraintValidator instances is still fully controlled by the Bean Validation provider as described in 3.5, but as managed beans they can receive expected services like injection of other objects.

Configure ValidatorFactory with managed instances of ConstraintValidatorFactory, MessageInterpolator, ParameterNameProvider and TraversableResolver, if such instances are defined in the XML deployment descriptor. Services provided by the container (like dependency injection) should thus be available to these instances.

Method interception frameworks (such as AOP or interceptor frameworks) enable interception of constrained methods following the steps defined in 5.4.

Method validation execution is implicit for any method or constructor annotated with constraints.

By default, method validation is applied to all constrained methods or constructors provided the integration technology can intercept the call. By default, getters (as defined in 4.1) are not considered constrained methods.

The executable is validated if it is annotated with @ValidateOnExecution and the type attribute contains the executable type or IMPLICIT. If the type attribute does neither contain the executable type nor IMPLICIT, the executable is not validated.

Otherwise the executable is validated if the type (class, interface) on which it is declared is annotated with @ValidateOnExecution and the type attribute contains the executable type. If the type attribute contains IMPLICIT, then this rule is ignored and the behavior is equivalent to @ValidateOnExecution not being present. If the type attribute does not contain the executable type, the executable is not validated.

Otherwise the executable is validated if the global executable validation setting contains the executable type. If the global setting does not contain the executable type, the executable is not validated.

The rules above do not apply to methods overriding a superclass method or implementing an interface method. In this case, the method inherits the behavior of the method it overrides / implements. Out of the box, a conforming implementation raises a ValidationException if the overriding / implementing method hosts the @ValidateOnExecution annotation.

NONE: parameters and return values are not validated upon execution. This option is equivalent to an empty list of executable types and is present to improve readability. A list containing NONE and other types of executables is equivalent to a list containing the types of executables without NONE.

CONSTRUCTORS: parameters and return values are validated provided the executable is a constructor.

NONGETTERMETHODS: parameters and return values are validated provided the executable is a method but not a getter.

GETTER_METHODS: return values are validated provided the executable is a getter method.

ALL: parameters and return values are validated for all executables (getters, non getters and constructors). This option is equivalent to a list of all executable types and is present to improve readability. A list containing ALL and other types of executables is equivalent to a list containing only ALL.

IMPLICIT: if @ValidateOnExecution is on a type (class or interface), then it is equivalent to @ValidateOnExecution not being present; if @ValidateOnExecution is on a an executable, the following applies: if on a constructor, it is equivalent to CONSTRUCTORS. if on a non-getter method, it is equivalent to NONGETTERMETHODS. if on a getter, it is equivalent to GETTER_METHODS.

You can globally disable executable validation by using <executable-validation enabled="false"/>, in this case, <default-validated-executable-types/> and @ValidateOnExecution are ignored.

Java EE must obey the rules defined above and make the following instances available under JNDI: ValidatorFactory under java:comp/ValidatorFactory Validator under java:comp/Validator

Instead of looking the instances up via JNDI, the user can request them to be injected via the Resource annotation

When the application is CDI enabled, the ValidatorFactory and Validator instances returned by JNDI or @Resource injection are CDI enhanced as defined in 10.3.

Bean Validation provider must integrate with CDI

Similar to the Java EE integration via @Resource (see 10.2), a CDI container must support injection of built-in default ValidatorFactory and Validator beans via @Inject. These default beans are injectable via the @Default qualifier.

If a custom ConstraintValidatorFactory, MessageInterpolator, ParameterNameProvider or TraversableResolver class is defined in the XML deployment descriptor (see 5.5.6), the ValidatorFactory must be configured with CDI managed beans representing the requested classes. Services like dependency injection, interception and decoration must thus be made available to these instances by the container.

If no custom ConstraintValidatorFactory is requested by the user, the ValidatorFactory must be configured with a custom ConstraintValidatorFactory instance that returns CDI managed beans representing the requested ConstraintValidator types. The factory creates non-contextual ConstraintValidator instances for each ConstraintValidatorFactory.getInstance() call. To inject dependencies into the ConstraintValidator instance, the CDI InjectionTarget API should be used. Before returning the instance the following calls should be made: InjectionTarget.produce(), InjectionTarget.inject() and InjectionTarget.postConstruct(). calls InjectionTarget.preDestroy() and InjectionTarget.dispose() upon ConstraintValidatorFactory.releaseInstance (see also 3.5 for more information about the life cycle of a ConstraintValidator).

Bean Validation requires that CDI beans support constructor and method validation as defined in 10.1.2. Validation must happen at the equivalent time an interceptor occurs when having priority Interceptor.Priority.PLATFORM_AFTER+800, in other words priority of 4800.