I have the following command object:

public class User {
private Department department;
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private String login;
private String password;
...
}

which should be rendered at jsp page:

<form:input path="lastName" />
<form:input path="department.name"/>
<form:input path="department.description"/>

So when I submit with empty department.name and department.description the Spring auto-instantiate object Department with empty properties. (See https://jira.springframework.org/browse/SPR-6032 I would keep autoGrowNestedPaths=true)

What is need to do for getting back User object where Department object=null?