how would I validate this?

[Daniel_Higginbotham]

Hi all,

My User model has_many :phone_numbers . For one form, I need to validate that
at least two phone (out of three possible) numbers have been entered, and
that the phone numbers are formed well. Also, if there's an error with the
form the phone numbers need to be filled in when the page refreshes. What's
the DRYest way to do this?

Thanks!
Daniel

[Philip_Hallstrom1 (Philip Hallstrom)]

My User model has_many :phone_numbers . For one form, I need to validate that
at least two phone (out of three possible) numbers have been entered, and
that the phone numbers are formed well. Also, if there's an error with the
form the phone numbers need to be filled in when the page refreshes. What's
the DRYest way to do this?

Create a before_save method to run the checks? If it fails, set the errors and return false...

-philip

[Daniel_Higginbotham]

Perhaps it'd be better to actually include the code. In my controller I have:

if request.post?
  params[:profile]
  @profile = current_user
  valid = @profile.update_attributes(params[:profile])

  %w{@phone_1 @phone_2 @phone_3}.each do |name|
    phone_number_params = params[name[1..7]]
    if(phone_number_params)
      self.instance_variable_set(name, PhoneNumber.new(phone_number_params))
      valid = (@profile.phone_numbers << self.instance_variable_get(name)) &&
valid
    end
  end

  if valid
    do_something
  end
end

@profile ||= current_user
%w{@phone_1 @phone_2 @phone_3}.each do |name
  self.instance_variable_set(name, (self.instance_variable_get(name) ||
    PhoneNumber.new))
end