[contribution] Consecutive Date Validator

[K.C. Baltz]

I had the need today to validate that two dates (start and end) are in 
the proper relation.  Searching the oracle at Google, I was unable to 
find any solution other than people looking for the same thing and being 
directed to write their own.  So I wrote one today and figured I'd 
contribute it back so that others can find it and I can also get a 
little extra scrutiny.

This was written for Struts 1.2.4
K.C. Baltz
================== snippet from validator-rules.xml ================
   <validator name="consecutiveDates"
       classname="com.mycompany.web.util.ValidationUtil"
       method="validateConsecutiveDates"
       methodParams="java.lang.Object,
                     org.apache.commons.validator.ValidatorAction,
                     org.apache.commons.validator.Field,
                     org.apache.struts.action.ActionMessages,
                     javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest"
       depends=""
       msg="errors.consecutiveDates">
   </validator>
=================== Example entry in validation.xml ================
       <form name="manageResourcesForm">
          <!-- validate that this both a valid date and that it 
precedes the end date -->
           <field property="startDate" depends="date,consecutiveDates">
               <msg name="consecutiveDates" 
key="errors.consecutiveDates" />

               <arg0 key="admin.editNotice.prompt.startDate" />
               <arg1 key="admin.editNotice.prompt.endDate" />
               <var>
                   <var-name>secondProperty</var-name>
                   <var-value>endDate</var-value>
               </var>
           </field>
            <!-- need to validate that this is a date -->
           <field property="endDate" depends="date">
               <arg0 key="admin.editNotice.prompt.endDate" />
           </field>
       </form>
=============== snippet from ValidationUtil.java ================
   public static boolean validateConsecutiveDates(Object bean, 
ValidatorAction va, Field field,
           final ActionMessages errors, HttpServletRequest request)
   {
       boolean passedValidation = true;
       String startDateString = ValidatorUtils.getValueAsString(bean, 
field.getProperty());
       String sProperty2 = field.getVarValue("secondProperty");
       String endDateString = ValidatorUtils.getValueAsString(bean, 
sProperty2);

       if(!GenericValidator.isBlankOrNull(startDateString) && 
!GenericValidator.isBlankOrNull(endDateString))
       {
           try
           {
               Locale locale = RequestUtils.getUserLocale(request, null);
              
               DateFormat formatter = 
DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT, locale);

               Date startDate = null;
               Date endDate = null;
               try
               {
                   startDate = formatter.parse(startDateString);
               }
               catch (ParseException e)
               {
                   errors.add(field.getArg(0).getKey(), new 
ActionMessage("errors.date", startDateString));
                   passedValidation = false;
               }
               try
               {
                   endDate = formatter.parse(endDateString);
               }
               catch (ParseException e)
               {
                   errors.add(field.getArg(1).getKey(), new 
ActionMessage("errors.date", endDateString));
                   passedValidation = false;
               }

               if( startDate != null && endDate != null && 
startDate.after(endDate) )
               {
                   errors.add(ActionMessages.GLOBAL_MESSAGE, 
Resources.getActionMessage(request, va, field));
                   passedValidation = false;
               }

               return passedValidation;
           }
           catch(Exception e)
           {
               log.error("Exception caught trying to perform 
validateConsecutiveDates", e);
               errors.add(field.getKey(), 
Resources.getActionMessage(request, va, field));

               return false;
           }
       }
       return true;
   }
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