diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction.java b/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction.java
index 60053067e..ed8a11b48 100644
--- a/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction.java
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/main/java/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction.java
@@ -84,4 +84,12 @@ public class FileUploadAction extends ActionSupport {
 	public void setCaption(String caption) {
 		this.caption = caption;
 	}
+
+        public long getUploadSize() {
+            if (upload != null) {
+                return upload.length();
+            } else {
+                return 0;
+            }
+        }
 }
diff --git a/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction-validation.xml b/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction-validation.xml
index df2dd55d8..cfd41786e 100644
--- a/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction-validation.xml
+++ b/apps/showcase/src/main/resources/org/apache/struts2/showcase/fileupload/FileUploadAction-validation.xml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 <validators>
 	<field name="upload">
 		<field-validator type="fieldexpression">
-			<param name="expression"><![CDATA[upload.length() > 0]]></param>
+			<param name="expression"><![CDATA[getUploadSize() > 0]]></param>
 			<message>File cannot be empty</message>
 		</field-validator>
 	</field>