The <rich:ajaxValidator> is a component designed to provide Ajax validation inside for JSF inputs.

The <rich:ajaxValidator> component should be added as a child component to an input JSF tag which data should be validated and an event that triggers validation should be specified as well. The component is ajaxSingle by default so only the current field will be validated.

The following example demonstrates how the <rich:ajaxValidator> adds Ajax functionality to standard JSF validators. The request is sent when the input field loses focus, the action is determined by the "event" attribute that is set to "onblur".

...

<rich:panel>

      <f:facet name="header">

            <h:outputText value="User Info:" />

      </f:facet>

      <h:panelGrid columns="3">

            <h:outputText value="Name:" />

            <h:inputText value="#{userBean.name}" id="name" required="true">

                  <f:validateLength minimum="3" maximum="12"/>

                  <rich:ajaxValidator event="onblur"/>

            </h:inputText>

            <rich:message for="name" />

                

            <h:outputText value="Age:" />

                  <h:inputText value="#{userBean.age}" id="age" required="true">

                        <f:convertNumber integerOnly="true"/>

                        <f:validateLongRange minimum="18" maximum="99"/>

                        <rich:ajaxValidator event="onblur"/>

                  </h:inputText>

                  <rich:message for="age"/>

      </h:panelGrid>

</rich:panel>

...

This is the result of the snippet.

Figure 6.7. Simple example of <rich:ajaxValidator> with

The following example shows how the data entered by user can be validated using Hibernate Validator.

...

<rich:panel>

      <f:facet name="header">

            <h:outputText value="User Info:" />

      </f:facet>

      <h:panelGrid  columns="3">

            <h:outputText value="Name:" />

            <h:inputText value="#{validationBean.name}" id="name" required="true">

                  <rich:ajaxValidator event="onblur" />

            </h:inputText>

            <rich:message for="name" />

            

            <h:outputText value="Email:" />

                  <h:inputText value="#{validationBean.email}" id="email">

                        <rich:ajaxValidator event="onblur" />

                  </h:inputText>

                  <rich:message for="email" />

                  

                  <h:outputText value="Age:" />

                  <h:inputText value="#{validationBean.age}" id="age">

                        <rich:ajaxValidator event="onblur" />

                  </h:inputText>

                  <rich:message for="age" />

      </h:panelGrid>

</rich:panel>

...

Here is the source code of the managed bean.

package org.richfaces.demo.validation;


import org.hibernate.validator.Email;

import org.hibernate.validator.Length;

import org.hibernate.validator.Max;

import org.hibernate.validator.Min;

import org.hibernate.validator.NotEmpty;

import org.hibernate.validator.NotNull;

import org.hibernate.validator.Pattern;


public class ValidationBean {


    private String progressString="Fill the form please";

    

    @NotEmpty

    @Pattern(regex=".*[^\\s].*", message="This string contain only spaces")

    @Length(min=3,max=12)

    private String name;

    @Email

    @NotEmpty

    private String email;

    

    @NotNull

    @Min(18)

    @Max(100)

    private Integer age;

    

    public ValidationBean() {

    }


    /* Corresponding Getters and Setters */

    

}

By default the Hibernate Validator generates an error message in 10 language, though you can redefine the messages that are displayed to a user when validation fails. In the shows example it was done by adding (message="wrong email format") to the @Email annotation.

This is how it looks.

Figure 6.8. Validation using Hibernate validator

Table of <rich:ajaxValidator> attributes.

Visit the AjaxValidator page at RichFaces LiveDemo for examples of component usage and their sources.