Struts validation with BC4J

Question

We're developing an ADF/Struts app.
We started off with entity object level validation. However, we'd like nice formatable messages so decided to move towards Struts form beans and perform validation there.
Firstly, was this the right thing to do or can we place and format entity object validation errors however we like?
If we did make the right choice we aren't sure how ADF bindings and form beans interact and whether they should be used together.
We ask because of the following:
If we add a getFirstName field onto the form bean, and call the field in the JSP firstName (lower case 'f') then all is well and the form bean operates as expected with no errors.
However, if the field on the JSP is called FirstName (capital 'F') then the getter method is not found:
"No getter method for property FirstName of bean org.apache.struts.taglib.html.BEAN"
ADF bindings give the JSP properties upper case first-letter names by default. We can of course go and rename all of the bindings - but that's time consuming and as nobody has complained of something similar in the forums, we get the impression that we're doing something wrong or that they are rarely used together.
Any help appreciated.
Ben

Answer 1

The general rule with validation is never to rely on the UI generation layer to validate your data.
It's reasonable to place validation there, but you should back it up with validation on the EO as well.
If you want to mix Struts validators with ADF bindings then you're best using the Struts Validator framework and the oracle.adf.controller.v2.struts.forms.BindingContainerValidationForm as the type of the Form Bean for that page. That way you can use both ADF bindings and declaritive validations using the validator XML definitions