validator.js

Powerful objects and strings validation in javascript for Node and the browser

Version

0.5.6

Status

License

MIT - See LICENSE.md

Install

bower install validator.js

Run Tests

On node:
- npm install mocha
- npm install expect.js
- mocha tests/server.js
On browser:
- open tests/browser.html in your browser

Summary

General usage
Validate string
Validate object
Validation groups
Bind constraint to an object
Assert definition
Constraint definition
Available asserts
Collection Assert
Callback Assert

General usage

On node:

$ npm install -g validator.js

Then

Validator = require( 'validator.js' );

On browser:

<script src="../validator.js"></script>
<script>
    console.log(Validator);
</script>

Validate a string

var Assert = Validator.Assert;

Validator.Validator().validate( 'foo', new Assert().Length( { min: 4 } ) );
Validator.Validator().validate( 'foo', [ new Assert().Length( { min: 4 } ), new Assert().Email() ] );

will return true if validation passes, a Violation's array otherwise.

Validate an object

var Validator = Validator.Validator,
    Assert = Validator.Assert,
    Constraint = Validator.Constraint;

var object = {
    name: 'john doe',
    email: 'wrong@email',
    firstname: null,
    phone: null
  },
  constraint = {
    name:      [ new Assert().NotBlank(), new Assert().Length( { min: 4, max: 25 } ) ],
    email:     new Assert().Email(),
    firstname: new Assert().NotBlank(),
    phone:     new Assert().NotBlank()
  };

Validator.validate( object, constraint );

will return true if validation passes, { email: [ Violation ], firstname: [ Violation ] } in this case.

Validation groups

With same objects than above, just by adding validation groups:

  constraint = {
    name:      [ new Assert().NotBlank(), new Assert( 'edit' ).Length( { min: 4, max: 25 } ) ],
    email:     new Assert().Email(),
    firstname: new Assert( [ 'edit', 'register'] ).NotBlank(),
    phone:     new Assert( 'edit' ).NotBlank()
  };

Validator.validate( object, constraint, 'edit' );

will return true in this case { firstname: [ Violation ], phone: [ Violation ] }. There are two special groups: "Any" and "Default". Validating against "Any" group will validate against all Asserts, regardless their groups. Validating against "Default" group will only validate against Asserts that do not have a validation group.

Bind a constraint to an object

Validator.bind( object, constraint );
Validator.validate( object, groups );

Under the hood, by default, a _validatorjsConstraint key will be created in object in order to store here the constraint. You could override this default key name by passing an option to Validator constructor.

Documentation

Assert definition

An assert implements Assert Interface, and is an assertion that your string or object property must pass during validation process. There are several Asserts built in Validator.js (see below), but you can implement yours for your needs using the Callback() assert (see below).

var length = new Validator.Assert().Length( { min: 10 } );
try {
  length.check( 'foo' );
} catch ( violation ) {}

Constraint definition

A Constraint is a set of asserts nodes that would be used to validate an object.

var length = new Validator.Assert().Length( { min: 10 } );
var notBlank = new Validator.Assert().NotBlank();
var constraint = new Constraint( { foo: length, bar: notBlank } );

constraint.check( { foo: 'foo', bar: 'bar' } );

Strict Constraint validation

By default, if Validator.js look into object properties if there are related nodes in Constraint object to validate them. That means that if Constraint have nodes not defined in validated object, there won't be Violations thrown and object would be considered as valid. If you want a strict validation (ie ensure that every) Constraint node is valid, you'll have to pass an optional parameter to your Constraint:

var object = {
    foo: 'foo',
    bar: 'bar'
};

var constraint = new Constraint( {
    foo: new Assert().Required(),
    bar: new Assert().Required(),
    baz: new Assert().Required()
}, { strict: true });

constraint.check( object );

will return a HaveProperty Violation, saying that baz property does not exist in validated object. Without { strict: true } this check would return true.

Available asserts

new Assert().Blank();
new Assert().Callback( fn ( value ) {} [, arg1 ...] );
new Assert().Choice( [] );
new Assert().Choice( fn () {} );
new Assert().Collection ( Constraint );
new Assert().Count( value );
new Assert().Count( fn ( [] ) {} );
new Assert().Email();
new Assert().Eql( object );
new Assert().Eql( fn ( value ) {} );
new Assert().EqualTo( value );
new Assert().EqualTo( fn ( value ) {} );
new Assert().GreaterThan( threshold );
new Assert().GreaterThanOrEqual( threshold );
new Assert().InstanceOf
new Assert().IPv4();
new Assert().Length( { min: value, max: value } );
new Assert().HaveProperty( propertyName );
new Assert().LessThan( threshold );
new Assert().LessThanOrEqual( threshold );
new Assert().EqualTo( value );
new Assert().EqualTo( fn ( value ) {} );
new Assert().Mac();
new Assert().NotBlank();
new Assert().NotNull();
new Assert().Null();
new Assert().Range( min, max );
new Assert().Regexp( value );
new Assert().Required();
new Assert().Unique();
new Assert().Unique( { key: value } );

Collection Assert

Collection Assert is quite special yet powerful. It allows you to validate an object's array by checking each one of them against a constraint.

Here is an example of test suite test showing how this assert works:

it( 'Collection', function () {
  var itemConstraint = new Constraint( { foobar: new Assert().NotNull(), foobaz: new Assert().NotNull() } ),
    object = {
      foo: null,
      items: [
        { foobar: null, foobaz: 'foo', fooqux: null },
        { foobar: 'bar', foobaz: 'baz' },
        { foobar: null, foobaz: null }
      ]
    },
    constraint = {
      foo: new Assert().NotNull(),
      items: [ new Assert().Collection( itemConstraint ), new Assert().Count( 2 ) ]
    };

  var result = validator.validate( object, constraint );
  expect( result ).to.have.key( 'foo' );
  expect( result ).to.have.key( 'items' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ] ).to.have.key( '0' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ] ).to.have.key( '2' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ][ 0 ] ).to.have.key( 'foobar' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ][ 0 ] ).not.to.have.key( 'foobaz' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ][ 2 ] ).to.have.key( 'foobar' );
  expect( result.items[ 0 ][ 2 ] ).to.have.key( 'foobaz' );
  expect( result.items[ 1 ] ).to.be.a( Violation );
  expect( result.items[ 1 ].assert ).to.be( 'Count' );
} )

Callback Assert

This assert allows you to add the custom rules / assert you want. Just give a callback function that will be called with the value to be tested against. Return true for validation success, everything else if there is an error.

Here is an example from test suite test showing how this assert works:

it( 'Callback', function () {
  assert = new Assert().Callback( function ( value ) {
    var calc = ( 42 / value ) % 2;

    return calc ? true : calc;
  } );

  expect( validate( 3, assert ) ).not.to.be( true );
  expect( validate( 3, assert ).show() ).to.eql( { assert: 'Callback', value: 3, violation: { result: 0 } } );
  expect( validate( 42, assert ) ).to.be( true );

  // improved Callback
  assert = new Assert().Callback( function ( value, string1, string2 ) {
    return value + string1 + string2 === 'foobarbaz';
  }, 'bar', 'baz' );
  expect( validate( 'foo', assert ) ).to.be( true );
  expect( validate( 'bar', assert ) ).to.be( false );
} )

nathancharles/validator.js