Yep, @NotNull validation WOULD work... if JSF wouldn't skip validation on null values *g*. That's the reason why I even leave out @NotNull annotations completely, since I don't think they make sense. Ok, with them the database field cannot get NULL. But when a field has required="true" in JSF then there will never be null values to be written in the database. It's a question of personal preference, and I prefer to keep my code as small as possible, so I don't use @NotNull ;). View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3965999#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...