Provided by: libvalidation-class-perl_7.900057-1_all 
NAME
Validation::Class::Prototype - Data Validation Engine for Validation::Class Classes
VERSION
version 7.900057
DESCRIPTION
Validation::Class::Prototype is the validation engine used by proxy via Validation::Class
whose methods are aliases to the methods defined here. Please see
Validation::Class::Simple for a quick introduction on how to get started.
ATTRIBUTES
attributes
The attributes attribute provides access to simple attributes registered on the the
calling class. This attribute is a Validation::Class::Mapping object containing hashref
objects and CANNOT be overridden.
builders
The builders attribute provides access to coderefs registered to hook into the
instantiation process of the calling class. This attribute is a Validation::Class::Listing
object containing coderef objects and CANNOT be overridden.
configuration
The configuration attribute provides the default configuration profile. This attribute is
a Validation::Class::Configuration object and CANNOT be overridden.
directives
The directives attribute provides access to defined directive objects. This attribute is
a Validation::Class::Mapping object containing hashrefs and CANNOT be overridden.
documents
The documents attribute provides access to defined document models. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Mapping object and CANNOT be overridden.
errors
The errors attribute provides access to class-level error messages. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Errors object, may contain error messages and CANNOT be overridden.
events
The events attribute provides access to validation events and the directives that
subscribe to them. This attribute is a Validation::Class::Mapping object and CANNOT be
overridden.
fields
The fields attribute provides access to defined fields objects. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Fields object containing Validation::Class::Field objects and CANNOT be
overridden.
filtering
The filtering attribute (by default set to 'pre') controls when incoming data is filtered.
Setting this attribute to 'post' will defer filtering until after validation occurs which
allows any errors messages to report errors based on the unaltered data. Alternatively,
setting the filtering attribute to 'off' will bypass all filtering unless explicitly
defined at the field-level.
filters
The filters attribute provides access to defined filters objects. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Mapping object containing code references and CANNOT be overridden.
ignore_failure
The ignore_failure boolean determines whether your application will live or die upon
failing to validate a self-validating method defined using the method keyword. This is on
(1) by default, method validation failures will set errors and can be determined by
checking the error stack using one of the error message methods. If turned off, the
application will die and confess on failure.
ignore_intervention
The ignore_intervention boolean determines whether validation will short-circuit if
required fields are not present. This is off (0) by default; The logic behind this
decision is that, for example, in the case of a required field, if the field was not
submitted but was required, there is no need to perform additional validation. This is a
type-of short-circuiting which reduces validation overhead. If you would like to emit all
applicable validation errors you can enable this option.
ignore_unknown
The ignore_unknown boolean determines whether your application will live or die upon
encountering unregistered field directives during validation. This is off (0) by default,
attempts to validate unknown fields WILL cause the program to die.
messages
The messages attribute provides access to class-level error message overrides. This
attribute is a Validation::Class::Mapping object containing scalar values.
methods
The methods attribute provides access to self-validating code references. This attribute
is a Validation::Class::Mapping object containing code references.
mixins
The mixins attribute provides access to field templates. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Mapping object and CANNOT be overridden.
The package attribute contains the namespace of the instance object currently using this
module.
params
The params attribute provides access to input parameters. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Mapping object and CANNOT be overridden.
profiles
The profiles attribute provides access to validation profile. This attribute is a
Validation::Class::Mapping object containing hash references and CANNOT be overridden.
queued
The queued attribute returns an arrayref of field names for validation and CANNOT be
overridden. It represents a list of field names stored to be used in validation later. If
the queued attribute contains a list, you can omit arguments to the validate method.
report_failure
The report_failure boolean determines whether your application will report self-validating
method failures as class-level errors. This is off (0) by default, if turned on, an error
messages will be generated and set at the class-level specifying the method which failed
in addition to the existing messages.
report_unknown
The report_unknown boolean determines whether your application will report unregistered
fields as class-level errors upon encountering unregistered field directives during
validation. This is off (0) by default, attempts to validate unknown fields will NOT be
registered as class-level variables.
settings
The settings attribute provides access to settings specific to the associated class, not
to be confused with settings which exist in the prototype's configuration. This attribute
is a Validation::Class::Mapping object and CANNOT be overridden.
validated
The validated attribute simply denotes whether the validation routine has been executed
since the last normalization process (which occurs at instantiation and before
validation). It's values will either be 0 (not validated), 1 (validated with errors), or 2
(validated without errors). You can simply check this attribute for truth when you need to
know if validation has occurred.
METHODS
apply_filters
The apply_filters method can be used to run the currently defined parameters through the
filters defined in their matching fields.
$self = $self->apply_filters;
# apply filters to fields where filtering is set to 'post' filtering
$self = $self->apply_filters('post');
class
This method instantiated and returns the validation class specified , existing parameters
and configuration options are passed to the constructor of the validation class (including
the stash object). You can prevent/override arguments from being copied to the new class
object by supplying the them as arguments to this method.
The class method is also quite handy in that it will detect parameters that are prefixed
with the name of the class being fetched, and automatically create aliases on the matching
rules (if any) to allow validation to occur seamlessly.
package Class;
use Validation::Class;
load classes => 1; # load child classes e.g. Class::*
package main;
my $input = Class->new(params => $params);
my $child1 = $input->class('Child'); # loads Class::Child;
my $child2 = $input->class('StepChild'); # loads Class::StepChild;
my $child3 = $input->class('child'); # loads Class::Child;
my $child4 = $input->class('step_child'); # loads Class::StepChild;
# intelligently detecting and mapping parameters to child class
my $params = {
'my.name' => 'Guy Friday',
'child.name' => 'Guy Friday Jr.'
};
$input->class('child'); # child field *name* mapped to param *child.name*
# without copying params from class
my $child = $input->class('child', params => {});
1;
clear_queue
The clear_queue method resets the queue container, see the queue method for more
information on queuing fields to be validated. The clear_queue method has yet another
useful behavior in that it can assign the values of the queued parameters to the list it
is passed, where the values are assigned in the same order queued.
my $self = Class->new(params => $params);
$self->queue(qw(name +email));
# ... additional logic
$self->queue(qw(+login +password));
if ($self->validate) {
$self->clear_queue(my($name, $email));
print "Name is $name and email is $email";
}
clone_field
The clone_field method is used to create new fields (rules) from existing fields on-the-
fly. This is useful when you have a variable number of parameters being validated that can
share existing validation rules. Please note that cloning a field does not include copying
and/or processing of any mixins on the original field to the cloned field, if desired,
this must be done manually.
package Class;
use Validation::Class;
field 'phone' => {
label => 'Your Phone',
required => 1
};
package main;
my $self = Class->new(params => $params);
# clone phone rule at run-time to validate dynamically created parameters
$self->clone_field('phone', 'phone2', { label => 'Phone A', required => 0 });
$self->clone_field('phone', 'phone3', { label => 'Phone B', required => 0 });
$self->clone_field('phone', 'phone4', { label => 'Phone C', required => 0 });
$self->validate(qw/phone phone2 phone3 phone4/);
1;
does
The does method is used to determine whether the current prototype is composed using the
role specified. Return true if so, false if not.
package Class;
use Validation::Class;
set role => 'Class::Root';
package main;
my $self = Class->new(params => $params);
return 1 if $self->proto->does('Class::Root');
error_count
The error_count method returns the total number of errors set at both the class and field
level.
my $count = $self->error_count;
error_fields
The error_fields method returns a hashref containing the names of fields which failed
validation and an arrayref of error messages.
unless ($self->validate) {
my $failed = $self->error_fields;
}
my $suspects = $self->error_fields('field2', 'field3');
errors_to_string
The errors_to_string method stringifies the all error objects on both the class and fields
using the specified delimiter (defaulting to comma-space (", ")).
return $self->errors_to_string("\n");
return $self->errors_to_string(undef, sub{ ucfirst lc shift });
unless ($self->validate) {
return $self->errors_to_string;
}
get_errors
The get_errors method returns a list of combined class-and-field-level errors.
# returns all errors
my @errors = $self->get_errors;
# filter errors by fields whose name starts with critical
my @critical = $self->get_errors(qr/^critical/i);
# return errors for field_a and field_b specifically
my @specific_field_errors = $self->get_errors('field_a', 'field_b');
get_fields
The get_fields method returns the list of Validation::Class::Field objects for specific
fields and returns an empty list if no arguments are passed. If a field does not match the
name specified it will return undefined.
my ($a, $b) = $self->get_fields('field_a', 'field_b');
get_hash
The get_hash method returns a hashref consisting of all fields with their absolute values
(i.e. default value or matching parameter value). If a field does not have an absolute
value its value will be undefined.
my $hash = $self->get_hash;
get_params
The get_params method returns the values of the parameters specified (as a list, in the
order specified). This method will return a list of key/value pairs if no parameter names
are passed.
if ($self->validate) {
my ($name) = $self->get_params('name');
my ($name, $email, $login, $password) =
$self->get_params(qw/name email login password/);
# you should note that if the params don't exist they will return
# undef meaning you should check that it is defined before doing any
# comparison checking as doing so would generate an error, e.g.
if (defined $name) {
if ($name eq '') {
print 'name parameter was passed but was empty';
}
}
else {
print 'name parameter was never submitted';
}
}
# alternatively ...
my $params = $self->get_params; # return hashref of parameters
print $params->{name};
get_values
The get_values method returns the absolute value for a given field. This method executes
specific logic which returns the value a field has based on a set of internal conditions.
This method always returns a list, field names that do not exist are returned as
undefined.
my ($value) = $self->get_values('field_name');
# equivalent to
my $param = $self->params->get('field_name');
my $field = $self->fields->get('field_name');
my $value;
if ($field->{readonly}) {
$value = $field->{default} || undef;
}
else {
$value = $field->{value} || $param;
}
is_valid
The is_valid method returns a boolean value which is true if the last validation attempt
was successful, and false if it was not (which is determined by looking for errors at the
class and field levels).
return "OK" if $self->is_valid;
normalize
The normalize method executes a set of routines that conditions the environment filtering
any parameters present whose matching field has its filtering directive set to 'pre'. This
method is executed automatically at instantiation and again just before each validation
event.
$self->normalize;
param
The param method gets/sets a single parameter by name. This method returns the value
assigned or undefined if the parameter does not exist.
my $value = $self->param('name');
$self->param($name => $value);
plugin
The plugin method returns an instantiated plugin object which is passed the current
prototype object. Note: This functionality is somewhat experimental.
package Class;
use Validation::Class;
package main;
my $input = Class->new(params => $params);
my $formatter = $input->plugin('telephone_format');
# ... returns a Validation::Class::Plugin::TelephoneFormat object
queue
The queue method is a convenience method used specifically to append the queued attribute
allowing you to *queue* fields to be validated. This method also allows you to set fields
that must always be validated.
$self->queue(qw/name login/);
$self->queue(qw/email email2/) if $input->param('change_email');
$self->queue(qw/login login2/) if $input->param('change_login');
reset
The reset method clears all errors, fields and queued field names, both at the class and
individual field levels.
$self->reset();
reset_errors
The reset_errors method clears all errors, both at the class and individual field levels.
This method is called automatically every time the validate() method is triggered.
$self->reset_errors();
reset_fields
The reset_fields method set special default directives and clears all errors and field
values, both at the class and individual field levels. This method is executed
automatically at instantiation.
$self->reset_fields();
reset_params
The reset_params method is responsible for completely removing any existing parameters and
adding those specified. This method returns the class object. This method takes a list of
key/value pairs or a single hashref.
$self->reset_params($new_params);
set_errors
The set_errors method pushes its arguments (error messages) onto the class-level error
stack and returns a count of class-level errors.
my $count = $self->set_errors('...', '...');
set_fields
The set_fields method is responsible setting/overriding registered fields. This method
returns the class object. This method takes a list of key/value pairs or a single hashref
whose key should be a valid field name and whose value should be a hashref that is a valid
field configuration object.
$self->set_fields($name => $config); # accepts hashref also
set_params
The set_params method is responsible for setting/replacing parameters. This method returns
the class object. This method takes a list of key/value pairs or a single hashref whose
keys should match field names and whose value should be a scalar or arrayref of scalars.
$self->set_params($name => $value); # accepts a hashref also
set_value
The set_value method assigns a value to the specified field's parameter unless the field
is readonly. This method returns the class object.
$self->set_values($name => $value);
stash
The stash method provides a container for context/instance specific information. The
stash is particularly useful when custom validation routines require insight into
context/instance specific operations.
package MyApp::Person;
use Validation::Class;
field 'email' => {
validation => sub {
my ($self) = @_;
my $db = $self->stash('database');
return 0 unless $db;
return $db->find(...) ? 0 : 1 ; # email exists
}
};
package main;
# store the database object for use in email validation
$self->stash(database => $database_object);
validate
The validate method (or has_valid, or validates) returns true/false depending on whether
all specified fields passed validation checks. Please consider, if this method is called
without any parameters, the list of fields to be validated will be assumed/deduced, making
the execution strategy conditional, which may not be what you want.
use MyApp::Person;
my $input = MyApp::Person->new(params => $params);
# validate specific fields
unless ($input->validate('login','password')){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
# validate fields based on a regex pattern
unless ($input->validate(qr/^setting(\d+)?/)){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
# validate existing parameters
# however, if no parameters exist, ...
# validate all fields, which will return true unless a field exists
# with a required directive
unless ($input->validate){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
# validate all fields period, obviously
unless ($input->validate($input->fields->keys)){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
# implicitly validate parameters which don't explicitly match a field
my $parameter_map = {
user => 'login',
pass => 'password'
};
unless ($input->validate($parameter_map)){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
Another cool trick the validate() method can perform is the ability to temporarily alter
whether a field is required or not during validation. This functionality is often referred
to as the *toggle* function.
This method is important when you define a field as required or non and want to change
that per validation. This is done by calling the validate() method with a list of fields
to be validated and prefixing the target fields with a plus or minus respectively as
follows:
use MyApp::Person;
my $input = MyApp::Person->new(params => $params);
# validate specific fields, force name, email and phone to be required
# regardless of the field directives ... and force the age, sex
# and birthday to be optional
my @spec = qw(+name +email +phone -age -sex -birthday);
unless ($input->validate(@spec)){
return $input->errors_to_string;
}
validate_document
The validate_document method (or document_validates) is used to validate the specified
hierarchical data against the specified document declaration. This is extremely valuable
for validating serialized messages passed between machines. This method requires two
arguments, the name of the document declaration to be used, and the data to be validated
which should be submitted in the form of a hashref. The following is an example of this
technique:
my $boolean = $self->validate_document(foobar => $data);
Additionally, you may submit options in the form of a hashref to further control the
validation process. The following is an example of this technique:
# the prune option removes non-matching parameters (nodes)
my $boolean = $self->validate_document(foobar => $data, { prune => 1 });
Additionally, to support the validation of ad-hoc specifications, you may pass this method
two hashrefs, the first being the document notation schema, and the second being the
hierarchical data you wish to validate.
validate_method
The validate_method method (or method_validates) is used to determine whether a self-
validating method will be successful. It does so by validating the methods input
specification. This is useful in circumstances where it is advantageous to know in-advance
whether a self-validating method will pass or fail. It effectively allows you to use the
methods input specification as a validation profile.
if ($self->validate_method('password_change')) {
# password_change will pass validation
if ($self->password_change) {
# password_change executed
}
}
validate_profile
The validate_profile method (or profile_validates) executes a stored validation profile,
it requires a profile name and can be passed additional parameters which get forwarded
into the profile routine in the order received.
unless ($self->validate_profile('password_change')) {
print $self->errors_to_string;
}
unless ($self->validate_profile('email_change', $dbi_handle)) {
print $self->errors_to_string;
}
AUTHOR
Al Newkirk <anewkirk@ana.io>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Al Newkirk.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
the Perl 5 programming language system itself.