Question

In my Spring 3.1.2.RELEASE application I have a complex form which requires the injection of a predefined bean:

<util:map id="predefinedLocations" map-class="java.util.LinkedHashMap">
    <entry key="first address" value="Location A" />
    <entry key="another one" value="Location B" />
    <!-- ... -->
</util:map>

My form is created as below:

@RequestMapping(value = "/create", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public CreationForm createForm() {
    return new CreationForm();
}

I can’t pass the map as a constructor argument of my form because my controller uses @Valid annotation which tries to instantiate the form.

@RequestMapping(value = "/create", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public String create(@Valid CreationForm form, BindingResult formBinding, Model model) {
    if (formBinding.hasErrors()) {
        // PROBLEM HERE
        //
        // View rendering fails because a freshly created CreationForm will be
        // passed to the view so Spring needs to handle the injection of
        // predefinedLocations.
        return null;
    }
    // ...
}

My first idea was to use a form factory but I can’t achieve that in this context.

How can I inject (or reference) the predefinedLocations bean into my form?

Answer 1

I finally found the solution.

The form is now created as below in my controller:

@ModelAttribute("creationForm")
private CreationForm getCreationForm() {
    return new CreationForm(predefinedLocations);
}

This way, @Valid does not instantiate a new form but reuse the previous instance.