validation Xpages Date Time Component

Question

I have two Date Time Component in my Xpages and I need to compare two date before submit so that I have used an expression validation feature:

 <xp:inputText value="#{document1.FUP_creation}"
                    id="FUP_creation" required="true">
                    <xp:this.validators>
                        <xp:validateRequired
                            message="Date is required">
                        </xp:validateRequired>
                    </xp:this.validators>
                    <xp:dateTimeHelper id="dateTimeHelper3">
                    </xp:dateTimeHelper>

                    <xp:this.converter>
                        <xp:convertDateTime type="date"
                            dateStyle="short">
                        </xp:convertDateTime>
                    </xp:this.converter>
                </xp:inputText>

                <xp:inputText value="#{document1.FUP_expireDate}"
                id="FUP_expiredDate" required="true">
                <xp:this.validators>
                    <xp:validateRequired
                        message="Date is required">
                    </xp:validateRequired>
                    <xp:validateExpression
                        message="The expired date must be greater than creation date">

<xp:this.expression><![CDATA[#{javascript://_dump("creation date")
_dump(this.getValue())
_dump(this.getSubmittedValue())
var exp_date:java.util.Date=this.getValue();
var fup_creation:java.util.Date=getComponent("FUP_creation").getValue();

if (exp_date.compareTo(fup_creation)>=0) return true
else return false}]]></xp:this.expression>
                        </xp:validateExpression>


                    </xp:this.validators>
                    <xp:dateTimeHelper></xp:dateTimeHelper>
                    <xp:this.converter>
                        <xp:convertDateTime type="date"
                            dateStyle="short">
                        </xp:convertDateTime>
                    </xp:this.converter>
                </xp:inputText>

The correct value is always getSubmittedValue()..but is return into java.lang.String mode and not java.util.Date.

Now can use java.text.SimpleDateFormat to convert into java.util.Date my submitted value...but this is a correct solution?

Answer 1

You can use the validator validateDateTimeRange and set minimum value to your creation date field:

<xp:validateDateTimeRange
    message="The expired date must be greater than creation date"
    minimum="#{javascript:getComponent('FUP_creation').getValue()}">
</xp:validateDateTimeRange>

That is a nice short solution but it's only useful if both dates can be equal too.

The solution with validateExpression works this way:

<xp:validateExpression
    message="The expired date must be greater than creation date">
    <xp:this.expression><![CDATA[#{javascript:
        var df:java.text.DateFormat = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
        var fup_creation = df.format(getComponent('FUP_creation').getValue());
        var exp_date = this.getSubmittedValue();
        if(exp_date > fup_creation){ 
            return true;
        }else{ 
            return false;}}]]>
    </xp:this.expression>
</xp:validateExpression>

this.getSubmittedValue() returns a String in format "yyyy-MM-dd". That allows us to compare it with a string of same format as the compare operations give the same result as comparing the dates in date format.

Make sure you have a <xp:messages or <xp:message tag on your page so that you can see the message.