I have occasion to validate email addresses in multiple models over projects, so I decided to start a custom validation library. Google led me to this write up that is essentially what I want - but with a different format - http://www.yoman.com.sg/ruby-and-rails
# lib/custom_validators.rb
module ActiveRecord::Validations::ClassMethods
def validates_as_email(*attr_names) configuration = { :message => "is not a valid email address", :on => :save, :allow_nil => true } configuration.update(attr_names.pop) if attr_names.last.is_a?(Hash)
validates_each(attr_names,configuration) do |record, attr_name, value| record.errors.add(attr_name, configuration[:message]) unless value.to_s =~ /(^([^@\s]+)@((?:[-_a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,})$)|(^$)/i end end
end
# config/environment.rb
require 'custom_validators'
# app/models/user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base validates_as_email :email ...
But I had trouble getting my new validation recognized so I could use it in the same way I use the built in validations. My rails instance (version 1.2.3) seems to be ignoring my 'require "custom_validators"' call in environment.rb. The only way I could get around the NoMethodErrors was to place 'require "custom_validators"' at the top of the model class where I wanted to use it (e.g. app/models/user.rb). This isn't killer - but it does mean that I can't seamlessly extend the Rails core by just hooking things in once.
1. Have things changed since the tutorial I referenced was written? I found Peter Marklund's article a little less clear to me (Peter Marklund's Home), but it seems to still imply that placing the custom validations in a file in lib should cause them to be loaded automatically or perhaps semi-automatically.
2. Is there a way to do what I want? Extend Rails with my custom validations and only have to hook it in once (not in every model where I want to use them).