[hibernate-issues] [Hibernate-JIRA] Created: (HV-46) Constraints should not compare against empty string values

[Hayo Schmidt (JIRA)]

Constraints should not compare against empty string values
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                 Key: HV-46
                 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HV-46
             Project: Hibernate Validator
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: validators
    Affects Versions: 3.0.0.ga
            Reporter: Hayo Schmidt


Constraints should not compare against empty input strings nor null values, except for @NotNull/@NotEmpty annotation.

The way many contraints are currently implemented, the validation framework is almost useless for attributes that are allowed to be empty or null. In a web based environment you often have return values of null or empty strings. And you cannot predict, what kind of non-value the browser returns.

For example 
- @Min(value=0) leads to an error, if value is empty string. "" is regarded to be less than zero.
- @Digits(integerDigits=4) does not allow an empty input: "Numeric value out of bounds (<4 digits>.<0 digits> expected)"
- @Range(min=0), if empty input: "must be between 0 and 9223372036854775807" 

As there are already the @NotNull and the @NotEmpty annotation, there is absolutely no need for comparing other constraints against empty values (except Length min).

Whitespace-only strings should also be taken into account for numerical constraints.

The behaviour should be documented in the Reference Guide.


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