[FIXED] Override spring web mvc's default Hibernate Validator

Issue

Spring is using the default validator factory provided by hibernate factory. However, I do not want to include an Expression Language dependency.

This answer recommends avoiding using the default factory by using this code:

import javax.validation.Validation;
import javax.validation.Validator;
import org.hibernate.validator.messageinterpolation.ParameterMessageInterpolator;

private static final Validator VALIDATOR =
  Validation.byDefaultProvider()
    .configure()
    .messageInterpolator(new ParameterMessageInterpolator())
    .buildValidatorFactory()
    .getValidator();

That works well when I have a reference to VALIDATOR, but I'm not sure how to tell spring to use the above instead of the OptionalValidatorFactoryBean which extends LocalValidatorFactoryBean that I think is filled in with the validator from Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory() based on the javadoc from LocalValidatorFactoryBean

In summary, how do I replace spring's default Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory() with Validation.byDefaultProvider().configure().messageInterpolator(new ParameterMessageInterpolator()).buildValidatorFactory().getValidator() so that I can avoid the dependency on Expression Language.

Solution

Try looking at Configuring a Bean Validation Provider for some discussion of the Validation Provider mechanism, and, for example, Spring-driven Method Validation, to then inject that as a default method-validation bean.

    <bean class="org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.MethodValidationPostProcessor">  
        <property name="validatorFactory" ref="myValidatorFactory"/>  
    </bean>

(I did this kind of thing with Spring 4.x, on WebSphere Application Server, here.)

Answered By - dbreaux