[hibernate-issues] [Hibernate-JIRA] Resolved: (BVAL-72) Validating an object multiple times if in a different branch of the graph

Validating an object multiple times if in a different branch of the graph ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Key: BVAL-72 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/BVAL-72 Project: Bean Validation Issue Type: Improvement Components: spec-general Reporter: Emmanuel Bernard Fix For: 1.0 proposed final draft 3-F) 3.5.1 "The InvalidConstraint objects reflect the path to reach the object from the root validated object": What happens if the same invalid object is referenced twice by an object (see the example below). Will there be generated two InvalidConstraint objects one reflecting the path b.ref1.value and one for b.ref2.value? If the referenced invalid object is only validated once, which property path will be used? class A { @NotNull String value = null; } class B { @Valid A ref1; @Valid A ref2; } b = new B(); b.ref1 = new A(); b.ref2 = ref1; Only one ConstraintViolation is created. from 3.1.3 The @Valid annotation is applied recursively. A conforming implementation avoids infinite loops by validating an object the first time it is encountered in the graph, and ignores it if it is encountered through at different path. The path chosen is not defined. Any alternative? Fine with me, I just wanted to have that clarified. I thought about that a bit. We have the current rule wich is simple but a bit indeterministic in the case an object is referenced twice in an object graph Or we could adopt the following rule For a given object graph branch, the same instance cannot be validated several times. This would lead to the validation of the same object several times provided it is in different branches in Sebastian's example b.ref1 and b.ref2 would be validated and generate the same constraintViolations (with different paths) Opinions? - only one validation pass per instance (with some indeterminism) - several validation pass and error reports provided that the object graph branches are different?