Question

I want to validate an entity using bean validation in a JUnit test. The setup seems fine but the test doesn’t fail as it should. Hence, it looks like the entity isn’t validated properly.

Here’s the relevant JPA annotation:

@Column(name = "mobile_numbers", table = STN)
private String smsRecipientMobileNumbers;

The column gets a default size of 255 chars (is applied correctly in database).

Here’s the test:

  final Collection<String> recipients = new ArrayList<String>(2000);
  for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++) {
    recipients.add("some mobile number");
  }
  objectUnderTest.setSmsRecipients(recipients);

  ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory();
  Validator validator = factory.getValidator();
  violations = validator.validate(objectUnderTest, Default.class);
  assertThat(violations, is(empty()));
}

I expect it to fail because the smsRecipientMobileNumbers is way beyond 255 chars but it passes.

If I explicitly apply a size constraint in the entity the test fails:

@Column(name = "mobile_numbers", table = STN)
@Size(max = 255)
private String smsRecipientMobileNumbers;

What am I doing wrong here? Obviously the chosen provider must be able interpret the JPA annotations correctly. The validator is an instance of org.hibernate.validator.engine.ValidatorImpl.

Answer 1

Bean Validation does not take JPA entities (or default column sizes) into account. If you want to validate the length using Bean Validation, you have to add the @Size constraint.

JPA providers can optionally consider the constraints when creating DDL statements, Hibernate ORM for instance should set the column length to the max attribute of @Size.