Validations

Validations overview

Validation methods

The following methods trigger validations, and will save the object to the database only if the object is valid:

• create
• save
• validate
• saveEither

Skipping validation

The following methods skip validations, and will save the object to the database regardless of its validity. They should be used with caution.

• save(validate = false)

errors collection

After validations, any errors found can be accessed through the errors instance method, which returns a collection of errors. By definition, an object is valid if this collection is empty after running validations.

To verify whether or not a particular attribute of an object is valid, you can use errors#apply(attribute) or errors#get(attribute).

case class User(@Required name: String) extends ActiveRecord
object User extends ActiveRecordCompanion[User]

val user = User("").create
println(user.isValid) // => false
println(user.hasErrors) // => true
println(user.errors.messges) // => Seq("Name is required")
println(user.hasError("name")) // => true

saveEither

If you want to be the functional error handling, you can use saveEither.

case class User(@Required name: String) extends ActiveRecord
object User extends ActiveRecordCompanion[User]

User("john").saveEither match {
  case Right(user) => println(user.name)
  case Left(errors) => println(errors.messages)
}
// => "john"

User("").saveEither match {
  case Right(user) => println(user.name)
  case Left(errors) => println(errors.messages)
}
// => "Name is required"

Built-in validation annotations

Annotation	Options	Validation
@Required		Check for null or empty or white space only string.
@Length	min = 0, max = Integer.MAX_NUM	Check for string length between min to max.
@Range	min = Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY, max = Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY	Check for numeric value between min to max.
@Accepted		Check for value is true.
@Email		Check for string is e-mail formatted.
@Unique		Check for the unique field value in DB.
@NumberEnum	value	Check if a numeric array value contains field value.
@StringEnum	value	Check if a string array value contains field value.
@Format	value	Check if a regular expression value matches field value.
@Confirmation	value = ""	Check if the same value is set in the field name of value, and with a _confirmation suffix field.

Default error messages

The default error messages are defined by activerecord.properties

Annotation common options

• message
• on

message

The message option is a string type. This option lets you specify the message that will be added to the com.github.aselab.activerecord.Errors collection when validation fails.

Note : Can also be set the i18n resource file. (e.g.: src/main/resources/activerecord_en.properties)

case class User(@Required(message="custom message") name: String) extends ActiveRecord
object User extends ActiveRecordCompanion[User]

val user = User("").create
println(user.errors.messges) // => Seq("custom message")

on

The on option is a string type. This option lets you specify when the validation should happen.

• save : The model validation on save. (on both create and update. it's default value)
• create : The model validation only when a record is created.
• update : The model validation only when a record is updated.

// it will be possible to update name with a empty value.
case class User(@Required(on="create") name: String) extends ActiveRecord

// it will be possible to create name with a empty value.
case class Person(@Required(on="update") name: String) extends ActiveRecord

// the default (validates on both create and update)
case class Group(@Required(on="save") name: String) extends ActiveRecord

I18n translation support

• Default locale is Locale.getDefault
• The i18n file name is activerecord_(locale).properties in classpath.

e.g.) src/main/resources/activerecord_en.properties

• Error message consists of two parts: ModelAttributeName and ValidationErrorMessage.

Translation ModelAttributeName

The format is activerecord.models.[Model.class.getSimpleName].[AttributeName]

activerecord.models.User.name = User Name
activerecord.models.User.age = Age
activerecord.models.User.phoneNumber = Phone number

Override translation ValidationErrorMessage

Note : Default translation file is activerecord.properties.

activerecord.errors.invalid = custom error message
activerecord.errors.accepted = custom error message

How to create the custom validation

TODO