Optional and empty fields are validated

27. Apr 2008, 15:46 CET | Link Karel Jelinek

Hi, I am using Seam 2.0.1 GA, JSF 1.2 and Hibernate 3.2.4 In my application I am using @Email and @Length annotations on my User entity:

@Entity
@Table(name = "users")
public class User implements Serializable {

private String email;
private String city;
 
@Email
public String getEmail() {
  return email;
}

public void setEmail(String email) {
  this.email = email;
} 

@Length(min=2,max=25)
public String getCity() {
  return city;
}

public void setCity(String city) {
  this.city = city;
}

It is working fine. When field with email or city has incorrect form, validation message is showed. But if I am keep these fields empty, then I am getting Hibernate exception:

 org.hibernate.validator.InvalidStateException: validation failed for: hcp.User

But this fields has to be optional. I read somewhere, that validation is made only if fields in JSF are not empty. But in my case, validation is fired every time.

In JSF form I am using s:validate tag. Fields are set as no required.

<h:outputLabel for="emailInput">Email</h:outputLabel>
<a:outputPanel id="emailPanel">
	<s:decorate>
		<h:inputText id="emailInput" value="#{user.email}"
			styleClass="text" >
			<a:support event="onblur" reRender="emailPanel"
				ajaxSingle="true" />
		<s:validate />
		</h:inputText>
		<h:message for="emailInput" errorClass="error" />
	</s:decorate>
</a:outputPanel>

<h:outputLabel for="cityInput">City</h:outputLabel>
<a:outputPanel id="cityPanel">
	<s:decorate>
		<h:inputText id="cityInput" value="#{user.city}"
			styleClass="text" >
			<a:support event="onblur" reRender="cityPanel"
				ajaxSingle="true" />
		<s:validate />
		</h:inputText>
		<h:message for="cityInput" errorClass="error" />
	</s:decorate>
</a:outputPanel>

I solved storing null email value to DB with this 'hack' before persisting.

if (this.getEmail().equalsIgnoreCase(""))
this.setEmail(null);

But then I found out, that the same problem is with all optional fields, that have some hibernate validation tag.

Any help or hint how to use optional fields with validation?