001/*
002 * Copyright 2002-2014 the original author or authors.
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 *      https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016
017package org.springframework.validation.annotation;
018
019import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
020import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
021import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
022import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
023import java.lang.annotation.Target;
024
025/**
026 * Variant of JSR-303's {@link javax.validation.Valid}, supporting the
027 * specification of validation groups. Designed for convenient use with
028 * Spring's JSR-303 support but not JSR-303 specific.
029 *
030 * <p>Can be used e.g. with Spring MVC handler methods arguments.
031 * Supported through {@link org.springframework.validation.SmartValidator}'s
032 * validation hint concept, with validation group classes acting as hint objects.
033 *
034 * <p>Can also be used with method level validation, indicating that a specific
035 * class is supposed to be validated at the method level (acting as a pointcut
036 * for the corresponding validation interceptor), but also optionally specifying
037 * the validation groups for method-level validation in the annotated class.
038 * Applying this annotation at the method level allows for overriding the
039 * validation groups for a specific method but does not serve as a pointcut;
040 * a class-level annotation is nevertheless necessary to trigger method validation
041 * for a specific bean to begin with. Can also be used as a meta-annotation on a
042 * custom stereotype annotation or a custom group-specific validated annotation.
043 *
044 * @author Juergen Hoeller
045 * @since 3.1
046 * @see javax.validation.Validator#validate(Object, Class[])
047 * @see org.springframework.validation.SmartValidator#validate(Object, org.springframework.validation.Errors, Object...)
048 * @see org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.SpringValidatorAdapter
049 * @see org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.MethodValidationPostProcessor
050 */
051@Target({ElementType.TYPE, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.PARAMETER})
052@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
053@Documented
054public @interface Validated {
055
056        /**
057         * Specify one or more validation groups to apply to the validation step
058         * kicked off by this annotation.
059         * <p>JSR-303 defines validation groups as custom annotations which an application declares
060         * for the sole purpose of using them as type-safe group arguments, as implemented in
061         * {@link org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.SpringValidatorAdapter}.
062         * <p>Other {@link org.springframework.validation.SmartValidator} implementations may
063         * support class arguments in other ways as well.
064         */
065        Class<?>[] value() default {};
066
067}