Validation in Spring Boot REST API with Hibernate Validator (Java Bean Validation Annotations)

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In this tutorial, we will learn how to validate Spring boot REST API requests using Hibernate validator.

In Java, the Java Bean Validation framework has become the de-facto standard for handling validations in Java projects.

JSR 380 is a specification of the Java API for bean validation and this ensures that the properties of a bean meet specific criteria, using annotations such as @NotNull, @Min, and @Max.

Hibernate Validator is the reference implementation of the validation API.

Important Java bean validations

  • @NotNull validates that the annotated property value is not null.
  • @Size validates that the annotated property value has a size between the attributes min and max; can be applied to String, Collection, Map, and array properties.
  • @Min validates that the annotated property has a value not smaller than the value attribute.
  • @Max validates that the annotated property has a value no larger than the value attribute.
  • @Email validates that the annotated property is a valid email address.
  • @NotEmpty validates that the property is not null or empty; can be applied to String, Collection, Map, or Array values.
  • @NotBlank can be applied only to text values and validates that the property is not null or whitespace.
Check out the complete list here at https://www.sourcecodeexamples.net/2021/03/java-bean-validation-annotation-list.html

Validation in Spring Boot

Spring boot provides good integration support with Hibernate validator.

We will use Hibernate Validator, which is one of the reference implementations of the bean validation API.

Starting with Boot 2.3, we need to explicitly add the spring-boot-starter-validation dependency:

<dependency> 
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> 
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId> 
</dependency>

Validation in Spring Boot REST API Example

Let's create a step-by-step example to demonstrate how to validate the Spring boot REST API request using Hibernate validator.

1. Create Spring boot application in STS

Use the below guide to create a Spring boot project in Eclipse STS IDE: 

2. Maven Dependencies

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
		</dependency>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
		</dependency>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
			<artifactId>h2</artifactId>
			<scope>runtime</scope>
		</dependency>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
			<scope>test</scope>
		</dependency>

3. Create User Class

Let's create a User class and add the following content to it:
package net.javaguides.springboot.model;

import jakarta.persistence.*;

@Table(name = "users")
@Entity
public class User {
	
	@Id
	@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
	private long id;
	
	@Column(name = "name", nullable = false)
	
	// user name should not be null or empty
	// user name should have at least 2 characters
	@NotEmpty
	@Size(min = 2, message = "user name should have at least 2 characters")
	private String name;
	
	// email should be a valid email format
	// email should not be null or empty
	@NotEmpty
	@Email
	private String email;
	
	// password should not be null or empty
	// password should have at least 8 characters
	@NotEmpty
	@Size(min = 8, message = "password should have at least 8 characters")
	private String password;
	
	public User() {
		
	}
	
	public User(String name, String email, String password) {
		super();
		this.name = name;
		this.email = email;
		this.password = password;
	}
	public long getId() {
		return id;
	}
	public void setId(long id) {
		this.id = id;
	}
	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}
	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
	public String getEmail() {
		return email;
	}
	public void setEmail(String email) {
		this.email = email;
	}
	public String getPassword() {
		return password;
	}
	public void setPassword(String password) {
		this.password = password;
	}
}

 Note that we have added Java bean annotations to the User domain entity:

  • @NotEmpty validates that the property is not null or empty; can be applied to String, Collection, Map, or Array values.
  • @Size validates that the annotated property value has a size between the attributes min and max; can be applied to String, Collection, Map, and array properties.
  • @Email validates that the annotated property is a valid email address.

4. Configure Database

Spring boot automatically configure database details for H2 in-memory database so we no need to explicitly add the database configuration in the application.properties file.

5. Create UserRepository

Let's create a UserRepository class which talk with database. Add the following content to it:
package net.javaguides.springboot.repository;

import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

import net.javaguides.springboot.model.User;

public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long>{

}

6. Create UserService Class

Let's create UserService and add the following code to it:
package net.javaguides.springboot.service;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

import net.javaguides.springboot.model.User;
import net.javaguides.springboot.repository.UserRepository;

@Service
public class UserService {
	
	@Autowired
	private UserRepository userRepository;
	
	public User createUser(User user) {
		return userRepository.save(user);
	}	
}

7. Create UserController Class

Let's create a UserController class and add the following content to it:
package net.javaguides.springboot.controller;

import javax.validation.Valid;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

import net.javaguides.springboot.model.User;
import net.javaguides.springboot.service.UserService;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/")
public class UserController {
	
	@Autowired
	private UserService userService;
	
	@PostMapping("users")
	public ResponseEntity<User> createUser(@Valid @RequestBody User user){
		User savedUser = userService.createUser(user);
		return new ResponseEntity<User>(savedUser, HttpStatus.CREATED);
	}

}
Note that we enable validation on Spring Rest Controller by adding @Valid annotation in addition to @RequestBody.

8. Create ValidationHandler

Let's create a ValidationHandler to customize the validation response.

To customize response validation, we need to extend ResponseEntityExceptionHandler class and override handleMethodArgumentNotValid(MethodArgumentNotValidException ex, HttpHeaders headers, HttpStatus status, WebRequest request) method.

Let's create ValidationHandler class and add the following content to it:

package net.javaguides.springboot.controller;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.validation.FieldError;
import org.springframework.web.bind.MethodArgumentNotValidException;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ControllerAdvice;
import org.springframework.web.context.request.WebRequest;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ResponseEntityExceptionHandler;

@ControllerAdvice
public class ValidationHandler extends ResponseEntityExceptionHandler{
	
	@Override
	protected ResponseEntity<Object> handleMethodArgumentNotValid(MethodArgumentNotValidException ex,
			HttpHeaders headers, HttpStatus status, WebRequest request) {
		
		Map<String, String> errors = new HashMap<>();
		ex.getBindingResult().getAllErrors().forEach((error) ->{
			
			String fieldName = ((FieldError) error).getField();
			String message = error.getDefaultMessage();
			errors.put(fieldName, message);
		});
		return new ResponseEntity<Object>(errors, HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
	}
}

9. Run Spring Boot App

Run the Spring boot application with the main class:
package net.javaguides.springboot;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class SpringbootValidationApplication {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		SpringApplication.run(SpringbootValidationApplication.class, args);
	}

}

10. Testing using Postman Client

The below screenshot shows the validation of Spring boot REST API using Hibernate validator:

11. Conclusion

 In this tutorial, we learned how to validate Spring boot REST API requests using Hibernate validator.

The source code of this tutorial available on my GitHub repository at https://github.com/RameshMF/springboot-validation

Starting with Boot 2.3, we need to explicitly add the spring-boot-starter-validation dependency:

<dependency> 
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> 
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId> 
</dependency>

Related Spring and Spring Boot Tutorials/Guides:

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