[bv-dev] Path validation

In working with bean validation I have found it useful to program to the Path interface and have discussed with other Apache BVal developers in the past the idea of adding #validateProperty() and #validateValue signatures that take Path arguments in place of the existing Strings. It would probably be easiest to add this to a new interface, e.g.: public interface javax.validation.PathValidator extends javax.validation.Validator { <T> java.util.Set<javax.validation.ConstraintViolation<T>> validateProperty(T object, javax.validation.Path propertyName, java.lang.Class<?>... groups); <T> java.util.Set<javax.validation.ConstraintViolation<T>> validateValue(java.lang.Class<T> beanType, javax.validation.Path propertyName, java.lang.Object value, java.lang.Class<?>... groups); } Things of this type are extremely easy to do given the specification of Validator#unwrap(). This also involves the related idea, which I would also like to discuss, of whether Bean Validation might specify certain interfaces as being optional. At the very least, regardless of whether a given interface is considered mandatory for a complying implementation to support, decoupling allows the implementor some freedom in deciding how to support these APIs, and maintains binary compatibility among versions as far as possible by leaving existing interfaces intact (which may indeed have been an intended effect of the #unwrap() APIs). I'd be glad to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on these matters! Matt