RE: Typical Validation Issues

[Julian Ray]

You can always create a hidden input element at the bottom of the form which has required="true" and perform form-scoped validation using the backing bean.

 

The spec says that form elements are processed in the order they are on the page so putting the hidden element last means that it will be validated after any other validations you specify. Note that if you need to use tag-level messages you will need to invalidate each component by getting it from tree or by using a binding.

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From: Gregg Bolinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 11:04 AM
To: MyFaces Discussion
Subject: Re: Typical Validation Issues

Thanks for the code.  The problem though is if I leave the required="true" attribute on the input field, even with the custom validation, the commandLinks still trigger the validation. 

If I remove required="true" from the input field, and I try and add a category without typing in a category name, no validation occurs.

<h:inputText validator="#{CategoryAdminBean.validateCategoryName}" id="categoryName" value="#{CategoryAdminBean.currentCategory.categoryName}" />

And I've simplified the validation for testing purposes.

public void validateCategoryName(FacesContext fc, UIComponent uic, Object o)
    {
        if (currentCategory.getCategoryId() == null)
        {
            ((UIInput)uic).setValid(false);
            FacesMessage facesMessage = new FacesMessage( FacesMessage.SEVERITY_WARN, "Category Name Required", null);
            throw new ValidatorException(facesMessage);
        }
    }

On 6/21/06, Julian Ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Hi Gregg,

 

here is some code for [3]

 

[1] example bean-based validation. Here is a function we use to validate a new user name for a customer account. As some of these methods are re-used we actually place the code in a validation class.

 

 

    // Check to see if the user name is unique for this customer. The user is not allowed
    // to change the username this function is only called when a new user is created,
    public static void validateUserName(Integer customerId, UIComponent uic, String entry, String fieldName) {
        if (! validateLength(uic, entry, fieldName, 6, 10)) {
            return;
        }

 

        if (entry.indexOf(' ') != -1) {
            String message = fieldName + " cannot contain spaces.";
            invalidateInput((UIInput) uic, message);
            return;
        }
        if (! UserDao.isUserNameUnique(customerId, entry)) {
            String message = fieldName + " must be unique for this customer.";
            invalidateInput((UIInput) uic, message);
            return;
        }
    }

 

    public static void invalidateInput(UIComponent uic, String message) {
        invalidateInput((UIInput) uic, message);
    }

 

    private static void invalidateInput(UIInput uii, String message) {
        uii.setValid(false);
        //FacesContext fc = javax.faces.context.FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
        FacesMessage facesMessage = new FacesMessage(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_WARN, message, null);
        throw new ValidatorException(facesMessage);
    }

[2] In the backing bean use something like the following. The ValidationUtils are defined in [1] above.

 

public void validateUserName(FacesContext fc, UIComponent uic, Object o) {

ValidationUtils.validateUserName(getSessionBean().getCustomerId(), uic, o.toString(), "*");

}

[3] In your JSP use the validation="" attribute with a method binding to the method defined in [2]. For example

<h:inputText id="userName" required="true" validator="#{myBackingBean.validateUserName}" value="#{myBackingBean.bean['userName']}"/>

<f:verbatim>&nbsp;</f:verbatim>

<h:message for="" errorClass="errorMessage"/>

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From: Gregg Bolinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]

Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:04 AM
To: MyFaces Discussion
Subject: Re: Typical Validation Issues

[1] Not really.  The user needs the Category Name field along with it's Add button to be able to add a Category.
[2] I could probably do that (worst case)
[3] This sounds feasable.  Could you provide a bit more info on this solution?

Thanks.

Gregg

On 6/21/06, Julian Ray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Some more suggestions

 

[1] Is it possible to not render the form until a command link is clicked or renderer a place-holder instead?

[2] Can you put dummy data in the form?

[3] can use use a validation method in your backing bean which only tests if a category has been loaded (my preference).

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From: Gregg Bolinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:49 AM
To: MyFaces Discussion
Subject: Typical Validation Issues

I am facing a pretty typical JSF validation issue.  I have a list of commandLinks which are Categories.  On the right side of the page I have a form with details about the category.  You can also use this form to add or update a category.

Obviously, the category name is required.  But since it is blank when the page loads, and if I click on a category link to view the details, I get a validation error.  No surprise.  So I change the commandLink immediate="true" and, you guessed it, my model isn't updated so most of the details don't get populated in the form.  My commandLink code on my JSP looks like:

<t:commandLink actionListener="#{CategoryAdminBean.editCategory}">
             <t:outputText value="#{category.categoryName}" />
             <t:updateActionListener
                      property="#{ CategoryAdminBean.currentCategory}"
                      value="#{category}" />
</t:commandLink>

I've tried many different suggestions that I found on various different sites including this mailing list.  I am not interested in adding yet another dependency to this project as in a 3rd party validation library or the adf:subForm (from what I can tell, this doesn't solve the problem either).  But I would like to know what other people did to solve this similar issue, if they solved it.

Thanks.

Gregg