Spring MVC Form Validation

In this example, we will be creating a simple web project that will validate the registration form using JSR 303 or java validators with the use of hibernate and spring.

Spring MVC Form Validation Example

1. Configure pom.xml

   Add validator dependencies

           
               <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
               <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
               1.1.0.Final
           
           
               <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
               <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
               5.1.2.Final
           
   

2. Configure your spring context

   Edit your dispatcher-servlet.xml or your spring context and add this bean:

   And in your mvc:annotation-driven add the validator attribute:

   <mvc:annotation-driven validator="validator" />
   

3. Create DTO object

   Next we create the Registration Data Transfer Object that will be passed to our jsp.

   public class RegistrationDto {
   
       @NotEmpty
       private String username;
   
       @NotEmpty
       private String email;
   
       @Size(min = 5, max = 15)
       private String password;
   
       @Size(min = 5, max = 15)
       private String confirmPassword;
   
       public String getEmail() {
           return email;
       }
   
       public void setEmail(String email) {
           this.email = email;
       }
   
       public String getConfirmPassword() {
           return confirmPassword;
       }
   
       public void setConfirmPassword(String confirmPassword) {
           this.confirmPassword = confirmPassword;
       }
   
       public String getUsername() {
           return username;
       }
   
       public void setUsername(String username) {
           this.username = username;
       }
   
       public String getPassword() {
           return password;
       }
   
       public void setPassword(String password) {
           this.password = password;
       }
   }
   

   We have added @NotNull and @Size validators.
   

4. Create the Controller

   Create the controller that will handle the spring mvc form validation.

   @Controller
   public class RegistrationController {
       public static final String REGISRATION_FORM = "reg_form";
   
       @RequestMapping(value = "/register", method = RequestMethod.GET)
       public String viewRegistration(ModelMap modelMap) {
           modelMap.addAttribute(REGISRATION_FORM, new RegistrationDto());
           return "registration/register";
       }
   
       @RequestMapping(value = "/register", method = RequestMethod.POST)
       public String registerUser(@ModelAttribute(REGISRATION_FORM) @Valid RegistrationDto registrationDto,
                                  BindingResult result) {
           if(result.hasErrors()) {
               return "registration/register";
           }
           return "registration/reg-success";
       }
   }
   

   Take note that we uses the annotation @ModelAttribute and the @Valid and also add BindingResult in the parameter.
   The @ModelAttribute will map the reg_form to RegistrationDto object.
   The @Valid will perform the validation to the object based on their annotations(@NotEmpty, @Size)
   The validation results will be saved in BindingResult object.

5. Create JSP

   Next we create registration.jsp that will contain the form. This also uses the form tag library.
   Add the form tld at the top of your jsp file:

   <%@ taglib prefix="form" uri="http://www.springframework.org/tags/form"%>
   

   And create the form inside your html body.
   The modelAttribute should be the same as the one typed in the controller

   <form:form id="register-form" modelAttribute="reg_form" method="post" role="form">
       <div class="form-group">
           <form:errors path="username" class="error" />
           <form:input type="text" path="username" id="username" tabindex="1" class="form-control" placeholder="Username" />
       </div>
       <div class="form-group">
           <form:input type="email" path="email" id="email" tabindex="1" class="form-control" placeholder="Email Address" />
       </div>
       <div class="form-group">
           <form:input type="password" path="password" id="password" tabindex="2" class="form-control" placeholder="Password" />
       </div>
       <div class="form-group">
           <form:input type="password" path="confirmPassword" id="confirm-password" tabindex="2" class="form-control" placeholder="Confirm Password" />
       </div>
       <div class="form-group">
           <div class="row">
               <div class="col-sm-6 col-sm-offset-3">
                   <input type="submit" name="register-submit" id="register-submit" tabindex="4" class="form-control btn btn-register" value="Register Now" />
               </div>
           </div>
       </div>
   </form:form>
   

6. Testing Validations

   The registration page:
   

   

   registration.jsp

   
   When we try to submit with invalid data:
   
   

   invalid registration data

   
   Adding valid data in registration form will display the success page.