3.15 Bean Validation

Since Micronaut 1.2, Micronaut has built-in support for validating beans that are annotated with javax.validation annotations. As a minimum you should include the micronaut-validation module as a compile dependency:

implementation("io.micronaut:micronaut-validation")

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.micronaut</groupId>
    <artifactId>micronaut-validation</artifactId>
</dependency>

Note that Micronaut’s implementation is not currently fully compliant with the Bean Validator specification as the specification heavily relies on reflection-based APIs.

The following features are unsupported at this time:

• Annotations on generic argument types since only the Java language supports this feature.

• Any interaction with the constraint metadata API, since Micronaut uses already computed compilation time metadata.

• XML-based configuration

• Instead of using javax.validation.ConstraintValidator you should use ConstraintValidator (io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.ConstraintValidator) to define custom constraints, which supports validating annotations at compilation time.

Micronaut’s implementation includes the following benefits:

• Reflection and Runtime Proxy free validation resulting in reduced memory consumption

• Smaller JAR size since Hibernate Validator adds another 1.4MB

• Faster startup since Hibernate Validator adds 200ms+ startup overhead

• Configurability via Annotation Metadata

• Support for Reactive Bean Validation

• Support for validating the source AST at compilation time

• Automatic compatibility with GraalVM native without additional configuration

If you require full Bean Validator 2.0 compliance you can add the micronaut-hibernate-validator module to your classpath, which will replace Micronaut’s implementation.

implementation("io.micronaut.beanvalidation:micronaut-hibernate-validator")

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.micronaut.beanvalidation</groupId>
    <artifactId>micronaut-hibernate-validator</artifactId>
</dependency>

Validating Bean Methods

You can validate methods of any class declared as a Micronaut bean simply by using the javax.validation annotation as arguments:

import javax.inject.Singleton;
import javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank;
@Singleton
public class PersonService {
    public void sayHello(@NotBlank String name) {
        System.out.println("Hello " + name);
    }
}

import javax.inject.Singleton
import javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank
@Singleton
class PersonService {
    void sayHello(@NotBlank String name) {
        println "Hello $name"
    }
}

import javax.inject.Singleton
import javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank
@Singleton
open class PersonService {
    open fun sayHello(@NotBlank name: String) {
        println("Hello $name")
    }
}

The above example declares that the @NotBlank annotation should be validated when executing the sayHello method.

If a validation error occurs a javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException will be thrown. For example:

import io.micronaut.test.annotation.MicronautTest;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException;
@MicronautTest
class PersonServiceSpec {
    @Inject PersonService personService;
    @Test
    void testThatNameIsValidated() {
        final ConstraintViolationException exception =
                assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException.class, () ->
                personService.sayHello("") (1)
        );
        assertEquals("sayHello.name: must not be blank", exception.getMessage()); (2)
    }
}

import io.micronaut.test.annotation.MicronautTest
import spock.lang.Specification
import javax.inject.Inject
import javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException
@MicronautTest
class PersonServiceSpec extends Specification {
    @Inject PersonService personService
    void "test person name is validated"() {
        when:"The sayHello method is called with a blank string"
        personService.sayHello("") (1)
        then:"A validation error occurs"
        def e = thrown(ConstraintViolationException)
        e.message == "sayHello.name: must not be blank" //  (2)
    }
}

import io.micronaut.test.annotation.MicronautTest
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*
import javax.inject.Inject
import javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException
@MicronautTest
class PersonServiceSpec {
    @Inject
    lateinit var personService: PersonService
    @Test
    fun testThatNameIsValidated() {
        val exception = assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException::class.java
        ) { personService.sayHello("") } (1)
        assertEquals("sayHello.name: must not be blank", exception.message) (2)
    }
}

Validating Data Classes

If you wish to validate data classes, such as POJOs and so on, typically used in JSON interchange, the class must be annotated with @Introspected (see the previous section on Bean Introspection) or, if the class is external, be imported by the @Introspected annotation.

import io.micronaut.core.annotation.Introspected;
import javax.validation.constraints.*;
@Introspected
public class Person {
    private String name;
    @Min(18)
    private int age;
    @NotBlank
    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }
    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }
}

import io.micronaut.core.annotation.Introspected
import javax.validation.constraints.Min
import javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank
@Introspected
class Person {
    @NotBlank
    String name
    @Min(18l)
    int age
}

import io.micronaut.core.annotation.Introspected
import javax.validation.constraints.Min
import javax.validation.constraints.NotBlank
@Introspected
data class Person(
    @field:NotBlank var name: String,
    @field:Min(18) var age: Int
)

The above example defines a class called Person that has 2 properties (name and age) that have constraints applied to them. Note that in Java the annotations can be on the field or the getter and with Kotlin data classes the annotation should target the field.

If you wish to validate the class manually then you can inject an instance of Validator:

@Inject
Validator validator;
@Test
void testThatPersonIsValidWithValidator() {
    Person person = new Person();
    person.setName("");
    person.setAge(10);
    final Set<ConstraintViolation<Person>> constraintViolations = validator.validate(person);  (1)
    assertEquals(2, constraintViolations.size()); (2)
}

@Inject Validator validator
void "test person is validated with validator"() {
    when:"The person is validated"
    def constraintViolations = validator.validate(new Person(name: "", age: 10)) (1)
    then:"A validation error occurs"
    constraintViolations.size() == 2 //  (2)
}

@Inject
lateinit var validator: Validator
@Test
fun testThatPersonIsValidWithValidator() {
    val person = Person("", 10)
    val constraintViolations = validator.validate(person)  (1)
    assertEquals(2, constraintViolations.size) (2)
}

Alternatively on Bean methods you can use javax.validation.Valid to trigger cascading validation:

@Singleton
public class PersonService {
    public void sayHello(@Valid Person person) {
        System.out.println("Hello " + person.getName());
    }
}

@Singleton
class PersonService {
    void sayHello(@Valid Person person) {
        println "Hello $person.name"
    }
}

@Singleton
open class PersonService {
    open fun sayHello(@Valid person: Person) {
        println("Hello ${person.name}")
    }
}

The PersonService will now validate the Person class when invoked:

@Inject
PersonService personService;
@Test
void testThatPersonIsValid() {
    Person person = new Person();
    person.setName("");
    person.setAge(10);
    final ConstraintViolationException exception =
            assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException.class, () ->
                    personService.sayHello(person) (1)
            );
    assertEquals(2, exception.getConstraintViolations().size()); (2)
}

@Inject PersonService personService
void "test person name is validated"() {
    when:"The sayHello method is called with an invalid person"
    personService.sayHello(new Person(name: "", age: 10)) (1)
    then:"A validation error occurs"
    def e = thrown(ConstraintViolationException)
    e.constraintViolations.size() == 2 //  (2)
}

@Inject
lateinit var personService: PersonService
@Test
fun testThatPersonIsValid() {
    val person = Person("", 10)
    val exception = assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException::class.java  (1)
    ) { personService.sayHello(person) }
    assertEquals(2, exception.constraintViolations.size) (2)
}

Validating Configuration Properties

You can also validate the properties of classes that are annotated with @ConfigurationProperties to ensure configuration is correct.

Defining Additional Constraints

To define additional constraints you can define a new annotation, for example:

import javax.validation.Constraint;
import java.lang.annotation.*;
import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.*;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy = { }) (1)
public @interface DurationPattern {
    String message() default "invalid duration ({validatedValue})"; (2)
    /**
     * Defines several constraints on the same element.
     */
    @Target({ METHOD, FIELD, ANNOTATION_TYPE, CONSTRUCTOR, PARAMETER, TYPE_USE })
    @Retention(RUNTIME)
    @Documented
    @interface List {
        DurationPattern[] value(); (3)
    }
}

import javax.validation.Constraint
import java.lang.annotation.*
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy = []) (1)
@interface DurationPattern {
    String message() default "invalid duration ({validatedValue})" (2)
}

import javax.validation.Constraint
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
@Constraint(validatedBy = []) (1)
annotation class DurationPattern(
    val message: String = "invalid duration ({validatedValue})" (2)
)

Once you have defined the annotation you need to implement a ConstraintValidator that validates the annotation. You can either implement a bean that implements the interface directly or define a factory that returns one or more validators.

The latter approach is recommended if you plan to define multiple validators:

import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Factory;
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.ConstraintValidator;
import javax.inject.Singleton;
@Factory
public class MyValidatorFactory {
    @Singleton
    ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> durationPatternValidator() {
        return (value, annotationMetadata, context) ->
                value == null || value.toString().matches("^PT?[\\d]+[SMHD]{1}$");
    }
}

import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Factory
import io.micronaut.core.annotation.AnnotationValue
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.*
import javax.inject.Singleton
@Factory
class MyValidatorFactory {
    @Singleton
    ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> durationPatternValidator() {
        return { CharSequence value,
                 AnnotationValue<DurationPattern> annotation,
                 ConstraintValidatorContext context ->
            return value == null || value.toString() ==~ /^PT?[\d]+[SMHD]{1}$/
        } as ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence>
    }
}

import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Factory
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.ConstraintValidator
import javax.inject.Singleton
@Factory
class MyValidatorFactory {
    @Singleton
    fun durationPatternValidator() : ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> {
        return ConstraintValidator { value, annotation, context ->
            value == null || value.toString().matches("^PT?[\\d]+[SMHD]{1}$".toRegex())
        }
    }
}

The above example implements a validator that validates any field, parameter etc. that is annotated with DurationPattern, ensuring that the string can be parsed with java.time.Duration.parse.

For example:

@Singleton
public class HolidayService {
    public String startHoliday(@NotBlank String person,
                        @DurationPattern String duration) {
        final Duration d = Duration.parse(duration);
        return "Person " + person + " is off on holiday for " + d.toMinutes() + " minutes";
    }
}

@Singleton
class HolidayService {
    String startHoliday(@NotBlank String person,
                        @DurationPattern String duration) {
        final Duration d = Duration.parse(duration)
        return "Person $person is off on holiday for ${d.toMinutes()} minutes"
    }
}

@Singleton
open class HolidayService {
    open fun startHoliday( @NotBlank person: String,
                           @DurationPattern duration: String): String {
        val d = Duration.parse(duration)
        val mins = d.toMinutes()
        return "Person $person is off on holiday for $mins minutes"
    }
}

To verify the above examples validates the duration parameter you can define a test:

@Inject HolidayService holidayService;
@Test
void testCustomValidator() {
    final ConstraintViolationException exception =
            assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException.class, () ->
                    holidayService.startHoliday("Fred", "junk")   (1)
            );
    assertEquals("startHoliday.duration: invalid duration (junk)", exception.getMessage()); (2)
}

void "test test custom validator"() {
    when:"A custom validator is used"
    holidayService.startHoliday("Fred", "junk") (1)
    then:"A validation error occurs"
    def e = thrown(ConstraintViolationException)
    e.message == "startHoliday.duration: invalid duration (junk)" //  (2)
}

@Inject
lateinit var holidayService: HolidayService
@Test
fun testCustomValidator() {
    val exception = assertThrows(ConstraintViolationException::class.java
    ) { holidayService.startHoliday("Fred", "junk") }   (1)
    assertEquals("startHoliday.duration: invalid duration (junk)", exception.message) (2)
}

Validating Annotations at Compilation Time

You can use Micronaut’s validator to validate annotation usages at compilation time. To do so you should include micronaut-validation in the annotation processor classpath:

annotationProcessor("io.micronaut:micronaut-validation")

<annotationProcessorPaths>
    <path>
        <groupId>io.micronaut</groupId>
        <artifactId>micronaut-validation</artifactId>
    </path>
</annotationProcessorPaths>

Once this is done Micronaut will at compilation validate annotation values that are themselves annotated with javax.validation. For example consider the following annotation:

import java.lang.annotation.*;
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface TimeOff {
    @DurationPattern
    String duration();
}

import java.lang.annotation.*
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@interface TimeOff {
    @DurationPattern
    String duration()
}

@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
annotation class TimeOff(
    @DurationPattern val duration: String
)

If your attempt to use @TimeOff(duration="junk") in your source Micronaut will fail compilation due to the value of duration violating the DurationPattern constraint.

Note that if you wish to allow use of a custom ConstraintValidator at compilation time you should instead define the validator as a class:

import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.NonNull;
import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.Nullable;
import io.micronaut.core.annotation.AnnotationValue;
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.*;
public class DurationPatternValidator implements ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> {
    @Override
    public boolean isValid(
            @Nullable CharSequence value,
            @NonNull AnnotationValue<DurationPattern> annotationMetadata,
            @NonNull ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
        return value == null || value.toString().matches("^PT?[\\d]+[SMHD]{1}$");
    }
}

import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.NonNull
import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.Nullable
import io.micronaut.core.annotation.AnnotationValue
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.*
class DurationPatternValidator implements ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> {
    @Override
    boolean isValid(
            @Nullable CharSequence value,
            @NonNull AnnotationValue<DurationPattern> annotationMetadata,
            @NonNull ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
        return value == null || value.toString() ==~ /^PT?[\d]+[SMHD]{1}$/
    }
}

import io.micronaut.core.annotation.AnnotationValue
import io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.*
class DurationPatternValidator : ConstraintValidator<DurationPattern, CharSequence> {
    override fun isValid(
            value: CharSequence?,
            annotationMetadata: AnnotationValue<DurationPattern>,
            context: ConstraintValidatorContext): Boolean {
        return value == null || value.toString().matches("^PT?[\\d]+[SMHD]{1}$".toRegex())
    }
}

In addition to the following requirements:

• Define a META-INF/services/io.micronaut.validation.validator.constraints.ConstraintValidator file that references the class.

• The class should be public and feature a zero argument public constructor

• The class should be placed on the annotation processor classpath of the project that is to be validated.