$transactionDate / $currentDate not available in Custom Validators? Bug?

[Blama]

Hi Isomorphic,

I have the following validator in my .ds.xml field:

				<validator type="serverCustom">
					<serverCondition><![CDATA[
				    ##Required field
				    #set( $neu = $!value.getTime() )
				    
				    ##Can be NULL when adding new entry
				    #if(          "$!dataSource.fetchById($record.ID).GUELTIGVON" != "" )
					    #set( $alt = $!dataSource.fetchById($record.ID).GUELTIGVON.getTime() )
					  #else
					    #set( $alt = -1 )
					  #end
					  
					  ##New created
					  $alt == -1 
					  ##Unchanged
					  || $neu == $alt
					  ##Moved in future
					  || ($transactionDate < $neu && $transactionDate < $alt) 
					  ]]></serverCondition>
					<errorMessage>Error</errorMessage>
				</validator>

and get this error message:

=== 2013-08-23 12:57:32,346 [ec-2] DEBUG Velocity - Null reference [template 'CustomValidator', line 17, column 47] : $transactionDate cannot be resolved.
=== 2013-08-23 12:57:32,347 [ec-2] DEBUG Velocity - Null reference [template 'CustomValidator', line 17, column 74] : $transactionDate cannot be resolved.

What's the correct approach to compare a date value against the current date?

Is it a bug that $transactionDate (as well as $currentDate) are not available in validators?

Thank you,
Blama



My environment:
Firefox 23.0.1
SmartGWT v9.0p_2013-08-17/EVAL Deployment 2013-08-17