Expert Spring MVC and Web Flow

CustomDateEditor firstDateEditor = new CustomDateEditor(firstDateFormat, true);

CustomDateEditor secondDateEditor = new CustomDateEditor(secondDateFormat, true);

binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, "firstDate", firstDateEditor);

binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, "secondDate", secondDateEditor);

request.addParameter("firstDate", "2001-01-01");

request.addParameter("secondDate", "01-01-2001");

binder.bind(request);

assertEquals(firstExpected, bean.getFirstDate()); // true!

assertEquals(secondExpected, bean.getSecondDate()); // true!

}

As you can see in Listing 6-30, when we register the PropertyEditorto the DataBinder, we

can also specify which property, or field, the PropertyEditorshould apply to. This overrides

any PropertyEditoralready bound to a class.

Custom PropertyEditors

Although Spring provides many useful PropertyEditors, often times you will wish to convert

some String value to a specific domain class from your object model. Creating and registering

your own PropertyEditors is as simple as registering any PropertyEditorto the DataBinder.

For example, consider a typical PhoneNumberclass. This class might encapsulate a typical

phone number, consisting of an area code and the number. The HTML form might allow a

phone number to be entered with a single text input field, as long as it conforms to the stan-

dard (xxx) xxx-xxxxformat.

To begin, let us define a simple PhoneNumberclass in Listing 6-31.

Listing 6-31.PhoneNumber Class

public class PhoneNumber {

private String areaCode;

private String prefix;

private String suffix;

public String getAreaCode() {

return areaCode;

}

public void setAreaCode(String areaCode) {

this.areaCode = areaCode;

}

public String getPrefix() {

return prefix;

}

public void setPrefix(String prefix) {

142 CHAPTER 6 ■THE CONTROLLER MENAGERIE