2.3. Application-level validation
Hibernate Validator can be applied anywhere in your application code.
ClassValidator personValidator = new ClassValidator( Person.class );
ClassValidator addressValidator = new ClassValidator( Address.class, ResourceBundle.getBundle("messages", Locale.ENGLISH) );
InvalidValue[] validationMessages = addressValidator.getInvalidValues(address);
The first two lines prepare the Hibernate Validator for class checking. The first one relies upon the error messages embedded in Hibernate Validator (see Section 1.3, “Error messages”), the second one uses a resource bundle for these messages. It is considered a good practice to execute these lines once and cache the validator instances.
The third line actually validates the
Address instance and returns an array of InvalidValues. Your application logic will then be able to react to the failure.
You can also check a particular property instead of the whole bean. This might be useful for property per property user interaction
ClassValidator addressValidator = new ClassValidator( Address.class, ResourceBundle.getBundle("messages", Locale.ENGLISH) );
//only get city property invalid values
InvalidValue[] validationMessages = addressValidator.getInvalidValues(address, "city");
//only get potential city property invalid values
InvalidValue[] validationMessages = addressValidator.getPotentialInvalidValues("city", "Paris");