# How can I retrieve current validation context's groups in a Validator?

**URL:** https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414
**Category:** Bean Validation (JSR 380)
**Created:** [March 23, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414 "2018-03-23T17:50:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![yanicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@yanicks](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/yanicks)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414/1 "2018-03-23T17:50:54Z")

</div>

Hi guys,

As part of a project, I would like to trigger a `@Valid` conditionally on an object if a value is not `null`. To do that i have created a custom validator named `ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNull` which I’m using as annotation on my object :

**MyObject.java**

```auto
@ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNull(fieldToValidateName = "mySubObject", dependFieldName = "myValue")
public class MyObject {

    private MySubObject mySubObject;
    private String myValue;

...

```

**MySubObject.java**

```auto
public class MySubObject {

    @NotNull
    private String stringA;
    @NotNull(groups = {FormModes.Creation.class})
    private String stringB;

...

```

So, when `myValue` is not set there is no validation done (as i wanted) but, when i set a value and try to validate `MySubObject` my validator doesn’t take into account `groups` given :

**Example.java**

```auto
MySubObject sub = new MySubObject("StringA");
MyObject object = new MyObject(sub, "myValue");
validator.validate(object, FormModes.Creation.class);

```

In this example my `@NotNull(groups = {FormModes.Creation.class})` is totally ignored.  
By following you will find my custom validator where I would like to find the used groups dynamically :

**ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNullValidator.java**

```auto
public class ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNullValidator
        implements ConstraintValidator<ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNull, Object> {

    private String fieldToValidateName;
    private String dependFieldName;

    @Override
    public void initialize(final ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNull annotation) {
        fieldToValidateName = annotation.fieldToValidateName();
        dependFieldName = annotation.dependFieldName();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isValid(final Object value, final ConstraintValidatorContext ctx) {
        
        if (value == null) {
            return true;
        }

        try {
            final Object dependFieldValue = PropertyUtils.getProperty(value, dependFieldName);
            final Object fieldToValidateValue = PropertyUtils.getProperty(value, fieldToValidateName);

            if(dependFieldValue != null) {

                    ctx.disableDefaultConstraintViolation();
                    ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory();
                    Validator validator = factory.getValidator();

                    Class[] applicableGroups = ?????; // How can i retrieved my current validation context groups ??

                    Set<ConstraintViolation<Object>> errorList = validator.validate(fieldToValidateValue, applicableGroups);

                    for(ConstraintViolation<Object> error : errorList) {
                        ctx.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate(error.getMessageTemplate())
                                .addNode(fieldToValidateName+"."+error.getPropertyPath())
                                .addConstraintViolation();
                    }

                    return errorList.isEmpty();

            }

        } catch (final NoSuchMethodException ex) {
            throw new RuntimeException(ex);

        } catch (final InvocationTargetException ex) {
            throw new RuntimeException(ex);

        } catch (final IllegalAccessException ex) {
            throw new RuntimeException(ex);
        }

        return true;
    }

}

```

Would it be possible to initialize `applicableGroups` variable with current context’s validation groups (in code above, retrieve `FormModes.Creation.class`) ?

Thanks in advance,

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![p3consulting](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/p3consulting/32/565_2.png) [@p3consulting](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/p3consulting)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414/2 "2018-03-28T11:35:59Z")

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Idea:

`@ValidateFieldIfAnotherIsNotNull(fieldToValidateName = "mySubObject", dependFieldName = "myValue")` will be triggered by validation of the javax.validation.groups.Default, by calling `validator.validate(object, FormModes.Creation.class)` instead of `validator.validate(object, Default.class, FormModes.Creation.class);` the validation of root object of class MyObject is not triggered at all, so - a fortiori - none of the field of MySubObject will be checked either.

Also the annotation’s groups are available in the initialize() method, so you can test there, and store the result, and if the validation groups of the annotation allow the validation asked by your call to validate(), then isValid() will be later called, and you can then test if the group of interest to you was present.

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### Author: ![gsmet](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/gsmet/32/9_2.png) [@gsmet](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/gsmet)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414/3 "2018-03-28T12:25:15Z")

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Hi,

Sorry for the delay, forgot about this one.

So what you’re trying to do is currently not feasible. Instantiating a new `ValidatorFactory` inside a `ConstraintValidator` is a no no. It will perform awfully.

I’m wondering if maybe we should add a feature allowing to trigger the cascading conditionally. It’s not the first time I see this requirement.

Will think about it.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![gsmet](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.hibernate.org/gsmet/32/9_2.png) [@gsmet](https://discourse.hibernate.org/u/gsmet)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://discourse.hibernate.org/t/how-can-i-retrieve-current-validation-contexts-groups-in-a-validator/414/4 "2018-03-28T13:46:48Z")

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Hi @yanicks,

Could you explain us more in detail the business case you’re trying to fulfill?

We understood your technical explanation but it’s not very graphic and we would like to better understand what are your exact business requirements.

Thanks!