We covered databinding and validation. This section covers outputting messages that correspond to validation errors. In the example shown in the preceding section, we rejected the name and age fields. If we want to output the error messages by using a MessageSource, we can do so using the error code we provide when rejecting the field ('name' and 'age' in this case). When you call (either directly, or indirectly, by using, for example, the ValidationUtils class) rejectValue or one of the other reject methods from the Errors interface, the underlying implementation not only registers the code you passed in but also registers a number of additional error codes. The MessageCodesResolver determines which error codes the Errors interface registers. By default, the DefaultMessageCodesResolver is used, which (for example) not only registers a message with the code you gave but also registers messages that include the field name you passed to the reject method. So, if you reject a field by using rejectValue("age", "too.darn.old"), apart from the too.darn.old code, Spring also registers too.darn.old.age and too.darn.old.age.int (the first includes the field name and the second includes the type of the field). This is done as a convenience to aid developers when targeting error messages.

More information on the MessageCodesResolver and the default strategy can be found in the javadoc of MessageCodesResolver and DefaultMessageCodesResolver, respectively.