ValidationException: Unable to find a default provider
Add hibernate-validator dependency which has implementation of JSR 303 (bean validation).
<dependency> <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId> <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId> <version>4.2.0.Final</version></dependency>
The Spring Forum helped me out. http://forum.springsource.org/showthread.php?124477-ValidationException-Unable-to-find-a-default-provider
Something to do with hibernate 3.6.x. I downgraded to Hibernate 3.5.6-Final and it works like a charm.
Thanks for all of the help.
Maybe it would be helpful to know that ZIP archive downloaded from provider site should be extracted upfront adding it as dependency to your project. For example I try to add archive hibernate-validator-4.3.2.Final-dist.zip to my project dependencies in IDE but it doesn't work. Then I extract it and add all the libraries from dist folder to my project and issue disappear.