validate-obj

What is validate-obj?

validate-obj is a javascript validation framework, easy to validate object or form, and is very easy to extend.
validate-obj mainly for node.js server-side, but also work for front-end.


Why I create validate-obj?

I started this project just because I cannot find existing one fits my requirements. There are many other validation projects, but many of them is very easy to end up code like the following:
``javascript
var validator = require('validator');
var myUserForm = {
name: 'John', // required, string
email: 'Jonh@emailDomain.com', // required, email
age: 27, // int
gender: 'male', // male or female
createdOn: '10/12/1987'
};

//Start validating
var errs = [],
if (typeof myUserForm.name === undefined) {
errs.push('name is required');
}
else if (!validator.isString(myUserForm.name)) {
errs.push('name must be a string');
}

if (typeof myUserForm.email === undefined) {
errs.push('email is required');
} else if (myUserForm.email !== undefined && !validator.isEmail(myUserForm.email)) {
errs.push('email is invalid');
}

if (typeof myUserForm.age !== undefined && !validator.isNumber(myUserForm.age) {
errs.push('age is invalid');
}

if (typeof myUserForm.gender !== undefined && !validator.isIn(myUserForm.gender, ['male', 'female']) {
errs.push('gender is invalid');
}
`

Are you tired of the above? How about we just simply do the following?
`javascript
var v = require('validate-obj');
var myUserForm = {
name: 'John', // required, string
email: 'Jonh@emailDomain.com', // required, email
age: 27, // int
gender: 'male', // male or female
createdOn: '10/12/1987'
};
var validationExpression = {
name: [v.required, v.isString],
email: [v.required, v.isEmail],
age: v.isNumber,
gender: v.isIn(['male', 'female']),
createdOn: v.isDate
};

var errs = v.hasErrors(myUserForm, validationExpression);
`
It is beautiful, isn't it? and even we save this validation sytax object and reuse it.

How to install?


For node.js
`bash
npm install validate-obj
`

For front end (coming soon)
`bash
bower install validate-obj
`

APIs

$3


` javascript
var v = require('validate-obj'); //load the library, to make it short, I will not include it in the following examples

// target: the object going to be validated
// validationExpression: the validation defination indicating how to validate
// return value: null means no errors or array of error string
v.hasErrors(target, validationExpression)
`



$3


` javascript
v.hasErrors(1, v.isNumber) // ==> null
v.hasErrors('a', v.isNumber) // ==> ['it is not number']
v.hasErrors('male', v.isIn(['male', 'female'])) // ==> null
v.hasErrors('middle', v.isIn(['male', 'female'])) // ==> ['it must be one of (male, female)']
`

$3

` javascript
v.hasErrors('a', v.isNumber('age should be a number')) // ==> ['age should be a number']
v.hasErrors('middle', v.isIn(['male', 'female'], 'gender has to be male or female')) // ==> ['gender has to be male or female']
v.hasErrors('middle', v.isIn('gender has to be male or female', ['male', 'female'])) // ==> ['gender has to be male or female']
`

$3

` javascript
v.hasErrors('a', [v.required, v.isString])) // ==> null
v.hasErrors(undefined, [v.isRequired, v.isNumber]) // ==> ['it is required']
`

$3

` javascript
v.hasErrors('a', [[v.isString]]) // ==> it is not array
v.hasErrors(['a', 'b'], [[v.isString]]) // ==> null
`

$3

` javascript
v.hasErrors({name: 'john', age: 27}, {name: v.isString, age: v.isNumber}) // ==> null
v.hasErrors({name: 'john', age: '27'}, {name: v.isString, age: v.isNumber}) // ==> ['it.age is not number']
`

$3

` javascript
v.hasErrors(
{
name: 'john',
orderNumber: 12345,
items: [{sku: 222, quantity: 2}]
},
{
name: v.isString,
orderNumber: v.isNumber,
items: [{ sku: v.isNumber, quantity: v.isNumber}]
}) // ==> null

v.hasErrors(
{
name: 'john',
orderNumber: 12345,
items: [{sku: '123', quantity: 2}]
},
{
name: v.isString,
orderNumber: v.isNumber,
items: [{ sku: v.isNumber, quantity: v.isNumber}]
}) // ==> ['it.items[0].sku is not number']
`

$3

` javascript
var schema = {
password: [v.isString, v.required],
matchedPassword: [v.isString, v.required],
selfCrossValidators : function(obj) {
if (obj.password !== obj.matchedPassword) return 'passwords do not match';
return undefined;
}
};
v.hasErrors({password:'123', matchedPassword: '123'}, schema) // => null
v.hasErrors({password:'123', matchedPassword: 'a23'}, schema) // => ['passwords do not match']

// The selfCrossValidators can also be array like the below
var schema = {
password: [v.isString, v.required],
matchedPassword: [v.isString, v.required],
selfCrossValidators : [function(obj) {
if (obj.password !== obj.matchedPassword) return 'passwords do not match';
return undefined;
}]
};
`

$3

* With auto error message

` javascript
v.register('isGender',
function(value) {
return value ==='male' || value ==='female'
}
);
v.hasErrors('male', v.isGender) // ==> null
v.hasErrors('middle', v.isGender) // ==> ['it is invalid']
`

* With error message

` javascript
v.register('isGender', v.build(
function(value) {
return value ==='male' || value ==='female';
},
function(name) {
return name + ' is not gender'
}
));
v.hasErrors('male', v.isGender); // ==> null
v.hasErrors('middle', v.isGender) // ==> ['it is not gender']
``

$3

* required
* isDate
* isBool
* isString
* isNumber
* isEmail
* isCreditCard
* isIn
* minLength
* maxLength
* isUrl
* isBefore
* isAfter
* isObject

Progress

The whole framework is done, the only missing is not enough built-in validators. I will add more soon.