BindingResult requires dates input even without not null or validation - spring

Question

I got an issue with a web application in Spring.
I am writing a search jsp form with related controller and service.
I do not need some datas to be necessary, and it goes all fine but dates.
It requires me to insert dates into dates input tags, if I leave that boxes empty I got an error in BindingResult and my search service stops.
Why does it not accept empty values?
In the domain the attributes are not set to NotNull, and I even remove the #Valid annotation from the service, but it does continues to ask me for some datas into that fields.
Can anyone try to explain me where should I look to solve this issue?
Here is the code:
jsp form:
<form:form commandName="colloquioRicerca" action="colloquio_ricerca" method="post">
<fieldset>
<legend>Cerca un colloquio</legend>
<p class="errorLine">
<form:errors path="codiceFiscale" cssClass="error"/>
</p>
<p>
<label for="codiceFiscale">Codice Fiscale del Docente: </label>
<form:input id="codiceFiscale" path="codiceFiscale" tabindex="1"/>
</p>
<h5>Ricerca avanzata:</h5>
<p>
<label for="nome">Nome:<br><small>(accetta parziali)</small> </label>
<form:input id="nome" path="nome" tabindex="2"/>
</p>
<p>
<label for="cognome">Cognome:<br><small>(accetta parziali)</small></label>
<form:input id="cognome" path="cognome" tabindex="3"/>
</p>
<p>
<label for="dataColloquio">Cerca per data: </label>
<form:input id="dataColloquio" path="dataColloquio" tabindex="4" placeholder="dd/MM/yyyy"/>
</p>
<p>Cerca per periodo:</p>
<p>
<label for="dataIniz">Dal:</label>
<form:input id="dataIniz" path="dataIniz" tabindex="5" placeholder="dd/MM/yyyy"/>
<label for="dataFin">Al:</label>
<form:input id="dataFin" path="dataFin" tabindex="6" placeholder="dd/MM/yyyy"/>
</p>
<p>
<label for="esitoColloquio">Al:</label>
<form:input id="esitoColloquio" path="esitoColloquio" tabindex="7" placeholder="dd/MM/yyyy"/>
<!--
<label for="esitoColloquio">Esito del Colloquio:</label>
<form:select id="esitoColloquio" name="esitoColloquio" path="esitoColloquio" tabindex="7">
<form:option value="positivo" >Positivo</form:option>
<form:option value="negativo" >Negativo</form:option>
<form:option value="altro"></form:option>
</form:select>-->
</p>
<p id="buttons">
<input id="reset" type="reset" tabindex="8">
<input id="submit" type="submit" tabindex="9"
value="Search">
</p>
</fieldset>
</form:form>
domain:
public class ColloquioSearch {
#Size(min=16, max=16)
private String codiceFiscale;
private String nome;
//#Size(min=1, max=50)
private String cognome;
private Date dataColloquio;
private Date dataIniz;
private Date dataFin;
private String esitoColloquio;
service:
public List<Colloquio> getAllColloquio()
throws SQLException {
List<Colloquio> result = new ArrayList<Colloquio>();
Statement s= con.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = s.executeQuery(
"SELECT doc.codice_fiscale, col.data_colloquio, col.esito_colloquio, col.note_colloquio FROM colloqui_pj col, docenti_pj doc where doc.id_docente=col.id_docente");
while(rs.next());{// il getTime per convertirla in util.date
result.add(new Colloquio(rs.getString(1), rs.getTime(2), rs.getString(3), rs.getString(4)));
System.out.println("rs has next");
}
return result;
}
search method called by submit button:
#RequestMapping(value="prova")
public String goSearch(Model model){
logger.info("here we are");
model.addAttribute("colloquioRicerca", new ColloquioSearch());
return "ColloquioSearchForm";
}
#RequestMapping(value="colloquio_ricerca")
public String cerca(#ModelAttribute ColloquioSearch colloquioRicerca, BindingResult br, Model model){
logger.info("modelattribute:"+colloquioRicerca.toString()+"/"+colloquioRicerca.getCodiceFiscale());
logger.info("entered");
if (br.hasErrors()) {
FieldError fieldError = br.getFieldError();
logger.info("Code:" + fieldError.getCode() + ", object:"
+ fieldError.getObjectName() + ", field:"
+ fieldError.getField()+"siamo qui");
model.addAttribute("colloquioRicerca", colloquioRicerca);
return "ColloquioSearchForm";
}//validare datafine minore data inizio
String codiceFiscale = colloquioRicerca.getCodiceFiscale();/*
Date dataColloquio = colloquioRicerca.getDataColloquio();
Date dataIniz = colloquioRicerca.getDataIniz();
Date dataFin = colloquioRicerca.getDataFin();*/
String nome = "%"+colloquioRicerca.getNome()+"%";
String cognome = "%"+colloquioRicerca.getCognome()+"%";
String esitoColloquio = colloquioRicerca.getEsitoColloquio();
Colloquio colloquioTrovato = null;
logger.info("siamo prima dell'if isEmpty");
if (!codiceFiscale.isEmpty()){
logger.info("dentro if is empty");
try{
logger.info("dentro il try:"+colloquioRicerca.getCodiceFiscale());
List<Colloquio> lista = colloquiService.getAllColloquio();
if(lista.isEmpty()){logger.info("lista nulla");}
for(Colloquio colloquio : lista){
logger.info("colloquio su db cf:"+colloquio.getCodiceFiscale());
if(colloquio.getCodiceFiscale().equals(codiceFiscale)){
colloquioTrovato=colloquio;
logger.info("siamo dentro l'if: colloquio trovato"+colloquioTrovato.getCodiceFiscale());
}
}
}
catch(SQLException e){logger.info(e.getMessage()+"siamo qui?");}
}
if (colloquioTrovato == null){
model.addAttribute("colloquioRicerca", colloquioRicerca);
return "ColloquioSearchForm";
}
return "Daje";
}
Below is the error I got in console when jsp processing stops:
/*dic 21, 2016 9:52:00 AM project.controller.ColloquioSearchController cerca
INFORMAZIONI: modelattribute:project.domain.search.ColloquioSearch#5d2ca87b/hereitwritesthecorrectparam
dic 21, 2016 9:52:00 AM project.controller.ColloquioSearchController cerca
INFORMAZIONI: entered
dic 21, 2016 9:52:00 AM project.controller.ColloquioSearchController cerca
INFORMAZIONI: Code:typeMismatch, object:colloquioSearch, field:dataColloquiosiamo qui
dic 21, 2016 9:52:00 AM org.springframework.web.servlet.tags.form.InputTag doStartTag
GRAVE: Neither BindingResult nor plain target object for bean name 'colloquioRicerca' available as request attribute*/
above is the error I got in console since i leave empty the date fields on form; I got the error for DataColloquio, then for DataFin, and then for DataIniz, subsequently. The only way to avoid this error is by filling the form imput fields related
I hope to be into the lines of this site asking for this, thank You all.
P.S.: I know the code is bad structured, and it is not a good way to code the way it is written, I just wanted to explain the issue, meanwhile I am changing the structure, I just do not understand why it is asking me for not leaving empty date fields, and not the others.

Answer 1

It might be better if you print these
Date dataColloquio = colloquioRicerca.getDataColloquio();
Date dataIniz = colloquioRicerca.getDataIniz();
Date dataFin = colloquioRicerca.getDataFin();
directly in your controller, as I kinda doubt that spring will parse the string format coming from your input into Date object without customization.
In short, if you want to bind the Date fields you could register custom data binding for the date via WebDataBinder by simply adds
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder webDataBinder) {
SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
dateFormat.setLenient(false);
webDataBinder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new CustomDateEditor(dateFormat, true));
}
in your controller, with this, even if your input is empty, spring will do the rest for you. You have to notice that the format would be yyyy-MM-dd or just change it if you want. As an alternative, you can also do
#DateTimeFormat(pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd") // Spring 4.0
private LocalDate dataColloquio;
#DateTimeFormat(pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd") // Spring 4.0
private LocalDate dataIniz;
#DateTimeFormat(pattern = "yyyy-MM-dd") // Spring 4.0
private LocalDate dataFin;
And about your error, this probably caused from your service as there's a rs.getTime(..) there, meanwhile the string date from your input cannot be parsed correctly into Date object thus your model object cannot be targetted hence thrown error. As previous my suggestion, try to put #InitBinder annotated method that I give above into your controller and let's hope it solves everything.