javax.validation.ValidationException: HV000183: Unable to load 'javax.el.ExpressionFactory'

I try to write very simple application with hibernate validator:

my steps:

add following dependency in pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
    <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
    <version>5.1.1.Final</version>
</dependency>

write code:

class Configuration {
    Range(min=1,max=100)
    int threadNumber;
    //...

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ValidatorFactory factory = Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory();

        Validator validator = factory.getValidator();

        Configuration configuration = new Configuration();
        configuration.threadNumber = 12;
            //...

        Set<ConstraintViolation<Configuration>> constraintViolations = validator.validate(configuration);
        System.out.println(constraintViolations);

    }
}

And I gets following stacktrace:

Exception in thread "main" javax.validation.ValidationException: Unable to instantiate Configuration.
    at javax.validation.Validation$GenericBootstrapImpl.configure(Validation.java:279)
    at javax.validation.Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory(Validation.java:110)
    ...
    at org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl.<init>(ConfigurationImpl.java:110)
    at org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl.<init>(ConfigurationImpl.java:86)
    at org.hibernate.validator.HibernateValidator.createGenericConfiguration(HibernateValidator.java:41)
    at javax.validation.Validation$GenericBootstrapImpl.configure(Validation.java:276)
    ... 2 more

What do I wrong?

Solution 1:

It is working after adding to pom.xml following dependencies:

<dependency>
   <groupId>javax.el</groupId>
   <artifactId>javax.el-api</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.4</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
   <groupId>org.glassfish.web</groupId>
   <artifactId>javax.el</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.4</version>
</dependency>

Getting started with Hibernate Validator:

Hibernate Validator also requires an implementation of the Unified Expression Language (JSR 341) for evaluating dynamic expressions in constraint violation messages. When your application runs in a Java EE container such as WildFly, an EL implementation is already provided by the container. In a Java SE environment, however, you have to add an implementation as dependency to your POM file. For instance you can add the following two dependencies to use the JSR 341 reference implementation:

<dependency>
   <groupId>javax.el</groupId>
   <artifactId>javax.el-api</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.4</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
   <groupId>org.glassfish.web</groupId>
   <artifactId>javax.el</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.4</version>
</dependency>

Solution 2:

do just

<dependency>
   <groupId>javax.el</groupId>
   <artifactId>javax.el-api</artifactId>
   <version>2.2.4</version>
</dependency>

Solution 3:

In case you don't need javax.el (for example in a JavaSE application), use ParameterMessageInterpolator from Hibernate validator. Hibernate validator is a standalone component, which can be used without Hibernate itself.

Depend on hibernate-validator

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
   <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
   <version>6.0.16.Final</version>
</dependency>

Use ParameterMessageInterpolator

import javax.validation.Validation;
import javax.validation.Validator;
import org.hibernate.validator.messageinterpolation.ParameterMessageInterpolator;

private static final Validator VALIDATOR =
  Validation.byDefaultProvider()
    .configure()
    .messageInterpolator(new ParameterMessageInterpolator())
    .buildValidatorFactory()
    .getValidator();

Solution 4:

If you are using tomcat as your server runtime and you get this error in tests (because tomcat runtime is not available during tests) than it makes make sense to include tomcat el runtime instead of the one from glassfish). This would be:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId>
        <artifactId>tomcat-el-api</artifactId>
        <version>8.5.14</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId>
        <artifactId>tomcat-jasper-el</artifactId>
        <version>8.5.14</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

Solution 5:

If you're using spring boot with starters - this dependency adds both tomcat-embed-el and hibernate-validator dependencies:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-validation</artifactId>
</dependency>