I have an EntityBean with several fields with values between 0 and 99. To keep the database small, I used byte-Values and the Range Annotation.

My Problem:
If a user enters a value, that is not in the range of byte, the converter message is displayed ("Enter a value < 255") and not the validator message ("Enter a value < 99"). My idea was to circumvent this problem by using a String instead of a byte and limit it to 2 digits (@Length(max=2)).

My question is:
Does that increase the memory usage significantly? Is there a way to solve this problem, where I can still use byte for the attributes?

Thanks in advance to everyone.

Hi,

the @Range annotation is used for numbers and string representing numbers. I don't think it behaves correctly when used with bytes.

Using strings and @Length seems to be wrong if you actually have integer values.

Personally I would use integers. If you want to stick with bytes I recommend writing your own custom validator.

BTW, what do you mean with converter message?

--Hardy

With the "converter message" I mean the message displayed under javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE_detail in the messages_*.properties.

I tried using a String instead of a Byte and I got the message I was looking for (the one from javax.faces.validator.NOT_IN_RANGE). The reason why I am not using Integer is, because it needs 4times the amount of memory compared to Byte - which is as close as I can get to values between 0 and 99.

Hi,

I still would argue that from a modelling point of view it seems odd to use strings for integers. Is it really essential to save a few bytes in your case? If so I would probably still use integers in the model, but define a custom user type which maps the integer to a byte. Have a look at the online documention for custom/user types. In this case your model still is correct and you properly hide the fact how the integers get persisted.

--Hardy

I tried using an integer, but the problem is the same. The errormessage I got was the one from javax.faces.converter.IntegerConverter.INTEGER_detail instead of javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE_detail - just a larger range of numbers.
I also tried your UserType advice, but I couldn't make it work (probably a combination of bad web-researching- and programming-skills).

However, I found a way to use byte for a datatype, but also to get the error message behavior I was looking for:


As you can see, the property is defined as Byte, but I use String in my Get- and Set-methods. It sure is, again, a questionable moddeling style. But at least the property should have byte's memory usage - right?!

Maybe you can try and set the jsf converter message id for that specific jsf component to the same message id you use in your validator (you're using message bundles aren't you?). Also, as mentioned, if @Range does not support bytes then write your own @ByteRange or something (it's easy).