Why does method validation not work with custom Hibernate Validator annotations? - hibernate-validator

Question

I'm experimenting with Hibernate Validator's method validation.
I've written the simplest EJB I can imagine and annotating the constraints on it.
However, it won't work with my custom annotations.
public String checkString(#NotNull #NotBlank #Characters(invalidCharacters = { '1' }) String string);
The last annotation checks that a String contains certain characters of a character set (with a default) and is a custom constraint. This works in a normal Validator environment.
However in my test, only the standard annotations work, my custom annotations don't.
this.parameterValidation.checkString(null); // Throws Exception
this.parameterValidation.checkString(""); // Throws Exception
this.parameterValidation.checkString("123"); // Does NOT throw Exception - why?
I've also tested another custom annotation, and that remains inactive as well.
What am I doing wrong?
Here's the code of the custom annotation:
/**
* Checks if a String contains only characters from the given character set. Note that this sets a parameter
* {#code positions} with a comma-separated list of the positions of invalid characters (based on 1, not 0!).
*/
#Documented
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target({ ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.PARAMETER, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE })
#Constraint(validatedBy = CharactersCheck.class)
public #interface Characters {
/**
* The I18N key of the error message.
*/
public static final String I18N_KEY = "ipi.msg.validation.characters";
/**
* Error message.
*/
String message() default LEFT_CURLY_BRACKET + I18N_KEY + RIGHT_CURLY_BRACKET;
/**
* The associated violation groups.
*/
Class<?>[] groups() default {};
/**
* The payload.
*/
Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};
/**
* The character set to which the text must conform.
*/
CharacterSet characterSet() default CharacterSet.ISO_8859_15;
/**
* Additional characters which must not be found in the text.
*/
char[] invalidCharacters() default {};
/**
* If this is {#code true}, carriage returns and line feeds are allowed in the text, making it a multi-line text.
*/
boolean carriageReturnAllowed() default false;
/**
* Defines several {#link Characters} annotations on the same element.
*/
#Documented
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target({ ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.PARAMETER, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE })
#interface List {
/**
* The {#link Characters} annotations.
*/
Characters[] value();
}
}
Here's the implementation:
public class CharactersCheck implements ConstraintValidator<Characters, CharSequence>, MessageAttributeModifier {
/**
* The character set to check.
*/
private CharacterSet characterSet;
/**
* Additional invalid characters.
*/
private char[] invalidCharacters;
/**
* If this is {#code true}, carriage returns and line feeds are allowed in the text, making it a multi-line text.
*/
private boolean carriageReturnAllowed;
private SortedSet<Integer> invalidCharacterPositions;
/**
* {#inheritDoc}
*/
#Override
public void initialize(final Characters constraintAnnotation) {
this.characterSet = constraintAnnotation.characterSet();
this.carriageReturnAllowed = constraintAnnotation.carriageReturnAllowed();
if (this.carriageReturnAllowed) {
this.invalidCharacters = constraintAnnotation.invalidCharacters();
} else {
final int invalidCharactersLength = constraintAnnotation.invalidCharacters().length;
this.invalidCharacters = Arrays.copyOf(constraintAnnotation.invalidCharacters(), invalidCharactersLength + 2);
this.invalidCharacters[invalidCharactersLength] = '\r';
this.invalidCharacters[invalidCharactersLength + 1] = '\n';
}
this.invalidCharacterPositions = new TreeSet<>();
}
/**
* {#inheritDoc}
*/
#Override
public boolean isValid(final CharSequence value, final ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
if (value == null) {
return true;
} else {
setInvalidCharacterPositions(value);
return this.invalidCharacterPositions.isEmpty();
}
}
private void setInvalidCharacterPositions(final CharSequence value) {
this.invalidCharacterPositions = CharacterChecker.checkCharacters(String.valueOf(value), this.characterSet,
this.invalidCharacters);
}
/**
* {#inheritDoc}
*/
#Override
public void modifyAttributes(final Map<String, Object> attributes, final Context context) {
setInvalidCharacterPositions((CharSequence) context.getValidatedValue());
if (!this.invalidCharacterPositions.isEmpty()) {
attributes.put(MessageVariables.POSITIONS, StringUtils.join(this.invalidCharacterPositions, ", "));
}
}
}
Note that I created a custom message interpolator which lets checks add message variables to the given Map. For this I create a new instance of the check within the message interpolator and call it using this interface:
/**
* Modifies attributes within a validation message.
*/
public interface MessageAttributeModifier {
/**
* Modifies the attributes within the validation message.
* #param attributes The existing attributes, which can be modified; the attributes already contain the values from
* the annotation and additionally also {#link MessageVariables#VALIDATED_VALUE}
* #param context The validation context
*/
public void modifyAttributes(Map<String, Object> attributes, final Context context);
}