Active Record Validations Lab

Learning Goals

  • Write basic validations using Active Record helpers
  • Write custom validations

Introduction

This project has starter code for a couple of models, Author and Post. To get set up, run:

$ bundle install
$ rails db:migrate

Then run learn test to run the tests. We'll be focusing solely on the model files for this lab, so there's no need to run rails s or view anything in the browser.

Basic Validations

Add validations to these models such that...

  1. All authors have a name
  2. No two authors have the same name
  3. Author phone numbers are exactly ten digits
  4. All posts have a title
  5. Post content is at least 250 characters long
  6. Post summary is a maximum of 250 characters
  7. Post category is either Fiction or Non-Fiction. This step requires an inclusion validator, which was not outlined in the lesson. You'll need to refer to the Rails guide to look up how to use it.

Custom Validations

Finally, add a custom validator to the Post model that ensures the title is sufficiently clickbait-y. The validator should add a validation error if the title does not contain:

  • "Won't Believe"
  • "Secret"
  • "Top [number]"
  • "Guess"

Use the Custom methods style of validator found in the Rails documentation.

Resources