nowdatabase/frontend/src/shared/validators

Validators

Validators are created as objects with the following fields. Only name is required.

• name The clear-language version of the field, usually same as the label shown in frontend. For example 'bfa_min_abs' field would have a name of 'Basis for age (absolute)'
• required Set to true if always requires some (non-empty) value. Can also be given a function that returns a ValidationError, if requirement and error strings are more conditional. Example usage can be found in locality validators.
• minLength
• maxLength Inclusive min and max length for value, applies only to string fields
• asString Either "true" to just require a string, or a function which can do more complex validation for the string value
• asNumber Same as asString but for numbers: Set to true to require a valid number, or set the function to both require a valid number (checked automatically if function is supplied) and apply more custom validations in the function body
• miscCheck is used to simply run any check you want. Currently it's used to e.g. validate the low_bound and up_bound fields of a time unit in the timeUnit validator.
• miscArray is used to run any check you want on arrays. Used for example in reference validators to check all authors are in correct format, author name is set etc.
• condition used to set some condition for when a validator is run. Happens before the check for if a value is required. Used for example in references to only run validators for for certain fields since they are only mandatory on some reference types, not all. Although using 'required' instead may now be possible after changes to it.
• useEditData A boolean for if you want to pass editData to the different checks of a validator instead of just the data of the field being validated. Used in references since some validators need to pass editData to a common function. Again, using 'required' instead may be possible after its changes

Example:

    bfa_min_abs: {
      name: 'Basis for age (minimum)',
      asNumber: (num: number) => {
        const bfa_max_abs = editData.bfa_max_abs
        if (!bfa_max_abs) return
        if (parseInt(bfa_max_abs) > num) return 'Min value cannot be higher than max'
      },
    },

To know if user is creating a new entry or editing existing one, check if the id exists. For example put const isNew = editData.lid === undefined at the beginning of the entire validator so it can be used in all of the fields' validators.

Note!

At the moment you can only create validators for existing and defined fields of editData. This is limiting in some cases and creating validators that check multiple fields (as is necessary in references) requires some trickery. Similarly you cannot create multiple validators for the same field.

Validators are only run if the data is defined! If the value of a key of editData == undefined, the data is not checked even if it is set as required in the validator. Similarly if a key does not exist in editData, it will not be checked even if the data would be required. This is also the case in backend. This may lead to mistakes getting into the db if some data must be set but it is not defined at all.