Hibernate validator NotEmpty trim issue

Question

It appears that the Hibernate NotEmpty annotation does not result in an error for strings filled with whitespace (" "). Only works for nulls or empty strings (ie: new String()). Is there a workaround/fix for this?

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 07 '11 at 17:18

15

@NotEmpty is used to check size rather than contents and applies to Collections as well as Strings. The functionality you're looking for is provided in @NotBlank which is specific to Strings and ignores trailing whitespace.

answered Jun 07 '11 at 17:18

Ken Blair

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I wish some of the Hibernate constraints had made it into JEE6. I find the default set of JEE6 constraints somewhat limited! – Muel Sep 14 '12 at 03:01
Note that `@NotEmpty` was added in version 4.1. For versions before 4.1, you will need to use a custom validator or `@Pattern`. See http://stackoverflow.com/a/17136803/2102634 for an longer explanation. – Rick Hanlon II Jun 16 '13 at 19:20

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '14 at 20:20

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@NotBlank is the way to test string lengths with an implicit trim call.

answered May 19 '14 at 20:20

DavidA

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 15 '10 at 18:11

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Replace your @NotEmpty with a @Pattern annotation that includes a regex expression that will fail on strings that are pure whitespace or empty (you may be able to include both @NotEmpty and @Pattern and simplify the regex that way). Or write a custom validator as described here.

answered Jan 15 '10 at 18:11

Jherico

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Thanks, I ended up writing a custom validator. – Marcus Leon Jan 15 '10 at 19:04

Hibernate validator NotEmpty trim issue

3 Answers3