GWT and Hibernate Validator

Question

I have problem with using Hibernate Validator with GWT 2.4. When module is starting i get error:

00:00:05,562 [ERROR] Deferred binding result type 'javax.validation.ValidatorFactory' should not be abstract

java.lang.RuntimeException: Deferred binding failed for 'javax.validation.ValidatorFactory' (did you forget to inherit a required module?) ...

module configuration:

<module rename-to='start'>
  ...
  <inherits name="com.google.gwt.validation.Validation" />
  <!-- with this doesn't work too 
  <inherits name="org.hibernate.validator.HibernateValidator" />
  -->
  ...
</module>

entry point:

public class Start implements EntryPoint {
    public void onModuleLoad() {

        final ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.byDefaultProvider().configure().buildValidatorFactory();
        ...
    }
}

pom.xml

<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
  <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.0.GA</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
  <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
  <version>4.2.0.Final</version>
</dependency>

Answer 1

SOLVED this!
According to http://code.google.com/p/google-web-toolkit/wiki/BeanValidation i had to implement custom MyValidatorFactory and add to project hibernate-validator sources .jar.

GWT module configuration:

<!-- hibernate validator -->
<inherits name="org.hibernate.validator.HibernateValidator" />
<replace-with class="net.marioosh.gwt.client.MyValidatorFactory">
  <when-type-is class="javax.validation.ValidatorFactory" />
</replace-with>

MyValidatorFactory

package net.marioosh.gwt.client;

import javax.validation.Validator;
import net.marioosh.gwt.shared.model.entities.Link;
import com.google.gwt.core.client.GWT;
import com.google.gwt.validation.client.AbstractGwtValidatorFactory;
import com.google.gwt.validation.client.GwtValidation;
import com.google.gwt.validation.client.impl.AbstractGwtValidator;

public class MyValidatorFactory extends AbstractGwtValidatorFactory {

    /**
     * Only the classes listed in the {@link GwtValidation} annotation can be validated.
     * In my example: Link.class can be validated
     */
    @GwtValidation(value = { Link.class })
    public interface GwtValidator extends Validator {
    }

    @Override
    public AbstractGwtValidator createValidator() {
        return GWT.create(GwtValidator.class);
    }

}

Hibernate validator sources are needed also

<!-- local dependency -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
    <artifactId>hibernate-validator-sources</artifactId>
    <version>4.2.0.Final</version>
    <scope>system</scope>
    <systemPath>${project.basedir}/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/hibernate-validator-4.2.0.Final-sources.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>       

Using:

public void onModuleLoad() {
    final ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.byDefaultProvider().configure().buildValidatorFactory();
    final Validator validator = factory.getValidator();
    ...

    Link l = new Link(....);
    Set<ConstraintViolation<Link>> violations = validator.validate(l);

    if(!violations.isEmpty()) {
           // validation fail
    } else {
           // validation success
    }
    ...
}

Answer 2

Last time I tried to make this work, I just had a huge headache and decided to implement the GWT-validation framework myself, based on the JSR303 standard.

Anyway, this is still an experimental framework, as stated in the Wiki:

http://code.google.com/p/google-web-toolkit/wiki/BeanValidation

WARNING EXPERIMENTAL. The API may change. SOME things still just don't work.

So, if I were you, I wouldn't try to make it work. Implement yourself some generator that is capable of validating your classes.

I also tried this framework here:

http://code.google.com/p/gwt-validation/

... but again, totally failed to make it work for me! But depending on your cases, it might work fine... try to make a "very" small application to test the different approaches and see what works for you.