Custom Validations in Struts Validator Framework?

[M Sharma]

The function defined in the custom validation class gets called, but somehow i am not getting the error message when i voilate the validation.

Validation.xml
============================

    
<form name="processUserForm">
<field property="workspaceUserId" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.workspaceUserId" />
</field>
<field property="firstName" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.firstName" />
</field>
<field property="lastName" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.lastName" />
</field>
<field property="userDescription" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.userDescription" />
</field>
<field property="userEmailAddress" depends="required,email">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.userEmailAddress" />
 <msg name="email" key="errors.email"/>
</field>
<field property="password" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.password" />
</field>
<field property="userRoles" depends="required">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.userRoles" />
</field>
<field property="empNumber" depends="required, saleRepExistance">
<arg key="createuser.errmsg.salesRepNumber" />
</field>


</form>

validator-rules.xml
============================

    
<validator name="saleRepExistance"
  classname="com.amcor.portaladmin.util.SalesRepExistanceValidator"
   method="validateSalesRepExistance"
   methodParams="java.lang.Object,
    org.apache.commons.validator.ValidatorAction,
    org.apache.commons.validator.Field,
    org.apache.struts.action.ActionErrors,
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest"
  msg="errors.salesRep"/>

SalesRepExistanceValidator class (my custom validation)
=======================================================

    
public class SalesRepExistanceValidator implements Serializable {
 
    public static ActionErrors validateSalesRepExistance( Object bean, ValidatorAction va,
            Field field, ActionErrors errors, HttpServletRequest request ) {
        
        boolean salesRepExists = false;
        
        
        ProcessUserForm processUserForm = (ProcessUserForm) bean;
        
        System.out.println("Value of empl number is : "+processUserForm.getEmpNumber());
        
        HttpSession appSession = request.getSession(true);
        List folderList = (List) appSession.getAttribute(AppConstants.HPS_FOLDER_STRUCTURE);
        
        if(folderList != null){
            System.out.println("length of list is >>>> "+folderList.size());
        
            for(int ctr=0;ctr<folderList.size();ctr++){
                if(folderList.get(ctr).toString().startsWith(processUserForm.getEmpNumber())){
                    System.out.println("folder matched is >> "+folderList.get(ctr).toString());
                    salesRepExists = true;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }else{
            System.out.println("FOLDER LIST IS NULLLLLLLL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>");
        }
        
        if(salesRepExists){
            System.out.println("field key is >> "+field.getKey());
            if(errors == null){
                errors = new ActionErrors();
            }
            errors.add("createuser.errmsg.salesRepNumber",new ActionMessage("duplicate sales rep"));
        }
        
        System.out.println("return value of validator is >> "+salesRepExists);
        return errors;
    }
 
    
}

Keys defined in the property file
==================================

    
createuser.errmsg.salesRepNumber=Sales Rep Number
errors.salesRep=already exists 

Kindly help !!!
[ November 16, 2006: Message edited by: Manish Sachdev ]

[Merrill Higginson]

Change

errors.add("createuser.errmsg.salesRepNumber",new ActionMessage("duplicate sales rep"));

to

errors.add("createuser.errmsg.salesRepNumber",new ActionMessage("errors.salesRep"));

The string argument for the ActionMessage constructor should be a message key, not the actual text of the message.

[sridhar ravi]

Hi,

Have you checked in struts-config.xml
<action-mapping>
<action> the attribute should specify validate is true
and i want to know how declared onSubmit in jsp/html.

Thanks & Regards
Ravi.

[Brent Sterling]

It sounds a lot like the issue that Ja vardhan is asking about (in the three active threads). Is errors coming in null? If so then I cannot imagine that the line of code that creates a new ActionErrors object is going to work. The calling method will never see the object that you created (that is just the way that parameter work in Java).

What version of Struts are you using?

- Brent

[Brent Sterling]

I would be tempted to switch over to using ActionMessages. I took a look at the code for the "required" validation and here is the code for Strut 1.3:

public static boolean validateRequired(
        Object bean, ValidatorAction va, Field field,
        ActionMessages errors, Validator validator, HttpServletRequest request)
{
    String value = null;
    value = evaluateBean(bean, field);
    if (GenericValidator.isBlankOrNull(value))
    {
        errors.add(field.getKey(), Resources.getActionMessage(validator, request, va, field));
        return false;
    }
    else
    {
        return true;
    }
}

- Brent

[M Sharma]

Thanks for your valuable inputs folks!!!

Brent you pointed it right, i receive errors object as null in this method. I think ideally it should be the one which is present in request.

Apart from this custom validation, all other standard validations are working.

The version of struts being used is 1.2.9

I have made some changes, which are marked in bold in the code below:

My Validator Class i.e. SalesRepExistanceValidator
==================================================

  public static boolean validateSalesRepExistance( Object bean, ValidatorAction va,
            Field field, ActionErrors errors, HttpServletRequest request ) {
        
        boolean salesRepExists = true;
        ProcessUserForm processUserForm = (ProcessUserForm) bean;
        
        HttpSession appSession = request.getSession(true);
        List folderList = (List) appSession.getAttribute(AppConstants.HPS_FOLDER_STRUCTURE);
        
        if(folderList != null){
            for(int ctr=0;ctr<folderList.size();ctr++){
                if(folderList.get(ctr).toString().startsWith(processUserForm.getEmpNumber())){
                    System.out.println("folder matched is >> "+folderList.get(ctr).toString());
                    salesRepExists = false;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        
        System.out.println("errors object is >> "+errors);
        
        if(!salesRepExists){
            System.out.println("field key is >> "+field.getKey());
            if(errors == null){
                errors = new ActionErrors();
            }
            [B]errors.add(field.getKey(), Resources.getActionMessage(request, va, field));[/B]
            return false;
        } else{
            return true;
        }
    }  

Output on the console as per the SOPs is
=========================================
folder matched is >> 101 (Alan Rego)
errors object is >> null
field key is >> empNumber

As we can see, the error object received in validateSalesRepExistance method is null.

Kindly help, if you have any clues on how to get this working. I am trying this from yesterday, but not able to get it.

Thanks in Advance...

[M Sharma]

Thanks folks!!

At last i got the solution

It seems that later versions of struts, have started populating ActionMessages instead of ActionErrors in case of any validation being voilated. I just replaced the ActionErrors parameter in my validate method to ActionMessages and it worked

I have highlighted the changes in bold.

validation-rules.xml
=======================================

    
<validator name="salesRepExistance"
  classname="com.amcor.portaladmin.util.SalesRepExistanceValidator"
   method="validateSalesRepExistance"
   methodParams="java.lang.Object,
    org.apache.commons.validator.ValidatorAction,
    org.apache.commons.validator.Field,
    [B]org.apache.struts.action.ActionMessages,[/B]
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest"
    depends="required"
  msg="errors.salesRep"/>

SalesRepExistanceValidator class (Changes done in signature only, ActionErrors replaced by ActionMessages)
=======================================================

public static boolean validateSalesRepExistance( Object bean, ValidatorAction va,
            Field field, [B]ActionMessages errors[/B], HttpServletRequest request ) {

I hope it helps others facing a similar problem
[ November 17, 2006: Message edited by: Manish Sachdev ]