I have a question regarding bean validation on a inputtext component (RichFaces 3.3.1). My bean contains the following annotation:

@NotEmpty
 @Length(min = 3, max = 3, message = "Field must be three characters")
 private String id = null;

and my jspx contains the following -

<h:inputText id="currCd"
value="#{currencyModalPanelController.currencyBean.id}"
disabled="#{currencyModalPanelController.idColDisabled}"
valueChangeListener="#{currencyModalPanelController.hasBeenEdited}"
binding="#{currencyModalPanelController.view.currCd}"
required="true" >
<rich:beanValidator/>
<rich:ajaxValidator id="currCdAjxVal" event="onblur" />
</h:inputText>

The problem is that the bean validation for not null only works for me when I have no binding on the inputtext. Once I have a binding the validation only occurs for the length annotation. As a result I have had to add the required attribute to the input text. Why is this the case?