javax.validation.ConstraintValidator Maven / Gradle / Ivy

Show more of this group Show more artifacts with this name
Show all versions of javaee-api Show documentation

Java(TM) EE 8 Specification APIs

There is a newer version: 8.0.1

/*
 * Bean Validation API
 *
 * License: Apache License, Version 2.0
 * See the license.txt file in the root directory or .
 */
package javax.validation;

import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;

import javax.validation.constraintvalidation.SupportedValidationTarget;

/**
 * Defines the logic to validate a given constraint {@code A}
 * for a given object type {@code T}.
 * 
 * Implementations must comply to the following restriction:
 * 

 *     {@code T} must resolve to a non parameterized type
 *     or generic parameters of {@code T} must be unbounded
 *     wildcard types
 * 
 * 
 * The annotation {@link SupportedValidationTarget} can be put on a
 * {@code ConstraintValidator} implementation to mark it as supporting
 * cross-parameter constraints. Check out {@link SupportedValidationTarget}
 * and {@link Constraint} for more information.
 *
 * @param  the annotation type handled by an implementation
 * @param  the target type supported by an implementation
 *
 * @author Emmanuel Bernard
 * @author Hardy Ferentschik
 */
public interface ConstraintValidator {

	/**
	 * Initializes the validator in preparation for
	 * {@link #isValid(Object, ConstraintValidatorContext)} calls.
	 * The constraint annotation for a given constraint declaration
	 * is passed.
	 * 

	 * This method is guaranteed to be called before any use of this instance for
	 * validation.
	 * 

	 * The default implementation is a no-op.
	 *
	 * @param constraintAnnotation annotation instance for a given constraint declaration
	 */
	default void initialize(A constraintAnnotation) {
	}

	/**
	 * Implements the validation logic.
	 * The state of {@code value} must not be altered.
	 * 
	 * This method can be accessed concurrently, thread-safety must be ensured
	 * by the implementation.
	 *
	 * @param value object to validate
	 * @param context context in which the constraint is evaluated
	 *
	 * @return {@code false} if {@code value} does not pass the constraint
	 */
	boolean isValid(T value, ConstraintValidatorContext context);
}