# ABSTRACT: Simple Ad-Hoc Data Validation
package Validation::Class::Simple;
use strict;
use warnings;
use Validation::Class ();
use Validation::Class::Prototype;
use Validation::Class::Util ('prototype_registry');
our $VERSION = '7.900029'; # VERSION
sub new {
my $class = shift;
$class = ref $class || $class;
my $self = bless {}, $class;
prototype_registry->add(
"$self" => Validation::Class::Prototype->new(
package => $class # inside-out prototype
)
);
# let Validation::Class handle arg processing
$self->Validation::Class::initialize_validator(@_);
return $self;
}
{
no strict 'refs';
# inject prototype class aliases unless exist
my @aliases = Validation::Class::Prototype->proxy_methods;
foreach my $alias (@aliases) {
*{$alias} = sub {
my ($self, @args) = @_;
$self->prototype->$alias(@args);
};
}
# inject wrapped prototype class aliases unless exist
my @wrapped_aliases = Validation::Class::Prototype->proxy_methods_wrapped;
foreach my $alias (@wrapped_aliases) {
*{$alias} = sub {
my ($self, @args) = @_;
$self->prototype->$alias($self, @args);
};
}
}
sub proto { goto &prototype } sub prototype {
return prototype_registry->get(shift);
}
sub DESTROY {
my ($self) = @_;
prototype_registry->delete($self) if $self && prototype_registry;
return;
}
1;
__END__
=pod
=head1 NAME
Validation::Class::Simple - Simple Ad-Hoc Data Validation
=head1 VERSION
version 7.900029
=head1 SYNOPSIS
use Validation::Class::Simple;
# define object specific rules
my $rules = Validation::Class::Simple->new(
# define fields on-the-fly
fields => {
name => { required => 1 },
email => { required => 1 },
pass => { required => 1 },
pass2 => { required => 1, matches => 'pass' },
}
);
# set parameters to be validated
$rules->params->add($parameters);
# validate
unless ($rules->validate) {
# handle the failures
}
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Validation::Class::Simple is a simple validation module built around the powerful
L<Validation::Class> data validation framework.
This module is merely a blank canvas, a clean validation class derived from
L<Validation::Class> which has not been pre-configured (e.g. configured via
keywords, etc).
It can be useful in an environment where you wouldn't care to create a
validation class and instead would simply like to pass rules to a validation
engine in an ad-hoc fashion.
=head1 QUICKSTART
If you are looking for a data validation module with an even lower learning curve
built using the same tenets and principles as Validation::Class which is as
simple and even lazier than this module, please review the tested but
experimental L<Validation::Class::Simple::Streamer>.
=head1 RATIONALE
If you are new to Validation::Class, or would like more information on the
underpinnings of this library and how it views and approaches data validation,
please review L<Validation::Class::Whitepaper>.
=head1 PROXY METHODS
Each instance of Validation::Class::Simple is associated with a *prototype*
class which provides the data validation engine and keeps the class namespace
free from pollution and collisions, please see L<Validation::Class::Prototype>
for more information on specific methods and attributes.
Validation::Class::Simple is injected with a few proxy methods which are
basically aliases to the corresponding prototype (engine) class methods, however
it is possible to access the prototype directly using the proto/prototype
methods.
=head2 class
$self->class;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/class> for full documentation.
=head2 clear_queue
$self->clear_queue;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/clear_queue> for full documentation.
=head2 error_count
$self->error_count;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/error_count> for full documentation.
=head2 error_fields
$self->error_fields;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/error_fields> for full documentation.
=head2 errors
$self->errors;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/errors> for full documentation.
head2 errors_to_string
$self->errors_to_string;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/errors_to_string> for full
documentation.
=head2 get_errors
$self->get_errors;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/get_errors> for full documentation.
=head2 get_fields
$self->get_fields;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/get_fields> for full documentation.
=head2 get_params
$self->get_params;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/get_params> for full documentation.
=head2 fields
$self->fields;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/fields> for full documentation.
=head2 filtering
$self->filtering;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/filtering> for full documentation.
=head2 ignore_failure
$self->ignore_failure;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/ignore_failure> for full
documentation.
=head2 ignore_unknown
$self->ignore_unknown;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/ignore_unknown> for full
documentation.
=head2 param
$self->param;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/param> for full documentation.
=head2 params
$self->params;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/params> for full documentation.
=head2 queue
$self->queue;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/queue> for full documentation.
=head2 report_failure
$self->report_failure;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/report_failure> for full
documentation.
=head2 report_unknown
$self->report_unknown;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/report_unknown> for full documentation.
=head2 reset_errors
$self->reset_errors;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/reset_errors> for full documentation.
=head2 reset_fields
$self->reset_fields;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/reset_fields> for full documentation.
=head2 reset_params
$self->reset_params;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/reset_params> for full documentation.
=head2 set_errors
$self->set_errors;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/set_errors> for full documentation.
=head2 set_fields
$self->set_fields;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/set_fields> for full documentation.
=head2 set_params
$self->set_params;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/set_params> for full documentation.
=head2 set_method
$self->set_method;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/set_method> for full documentation.
=head2 stash
$self->stash;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/stash> for full documentation.
=head2 validate
$self->validate;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/validate> for full documentation.
=head2 validate_method
$self->validate_method;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/validate_method> for full documentation.
=head2 validate_profile
$self->validate_profile;
See L<Validation::Class::Prototype/validate_profile> for full documentation.
=head1 GUIDED TOUR
The instructions contained in this documentation are also relevant for
configuring any class derived from L<Validation::Class>. The validation logic
that follows is not specific to a particular use-case.
=head2 Parameter Handling
There are three ways to declare parameters you wish to have validated. The first
and most common approach is to supply the target parameters to the validation
class constructor:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new(params => $parameters);
All input parameters are wrapped by the L<Validation::Class::Params> container
which provides generic functionality for managing hashes. Additionally you can
declare parameters by using the params object directly:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
$rules->params->clear;
$rules->params->add(user => 'admin', pass => 's3cret');
printf "%s parameters were submitted", $rules->params->count;
Finally, any parameter which has corresponding validation rules that has been
declared in a validation class derived from L<Validation::Class> will have an
accessor which can be used directly or as an argument to the constructor:
package MyApp::Person;
use Validation::Class;
field 'name' => {
required => 1
};
package main;
my $rules = MyApp::Person->new(name => 'Egon Spangler');
$rules->name('Egon Spengler');
=head2 Validation Rules
Validation::Class comes with a complete standard set of validation rules which
allows you to easily describe the constraints and operations that need to be
performed per parameter.
Validation rules are referred to as I<fields>, fields are named after the
parameters they expect to be matched against. A field is also a hashref whose
keys are called directives which correspond with the names of classes in the
directives namespace, and whose values are arguments which control how
directives carry-out their operations.
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
$rules->fields->clear;
$rules->fields->add(name => { required => 1, max_length => 255 });
Fields can be specified as an argument to the class constructor, or managed
directly using the L<Validation::Class::Fields> container. Every field is
wrapped by the L<Validation::Class::Field> container which provides accessors
for all core directives. Directives can be found under the directives namespace,
e.g. the required directive refers to L<Validation::Class::Directive::Required>.
Please see L<Validation::Class::Directives> for a list of all core directives.
=head2 Flow Control
A good data validation tool is not simply checking input against constraints,
its also providing a means to easily handle different and often complex data
input scenarios.
The queue method allows you to designate and defer fields to be validated. It
also allows you to set fields that must be validated regardless of what has been
passed to the validate method. Additionally it allows you to conditionally
specify constraints:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
$rules->queue('name'); # always validate the name parameter
$rules->queue('email', 'email2') if $rules->param('change_email');
$rules->queue('login', 'login2') if $rules->param('change_login');
# validate name
# validate email and email confirmation if change_email is true
# validate login and login confirmation if change_login is true
$rules->validate('password'); # additionally, validate password
$rules->clear_queue; # reset the queue when finished
Akin to the queue method is the stash method. At-times it is necessary to break
out of the box in order to design constraints that fit your particular use-case.
The stash method allows you to share arbitrary objects with routines used by
validation classes.
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
$rules->fields->add(
email => {
# email validation relies on a stashed object
validation => sub {
my ($self, $field, $params) = @_;
return 0 if ! my $dbo = $self->stash('dbo');
return 0 if ! $dbo->email_exists($field->value);
return 1;
}
}
);
# elsewhere in the program
$rules->stash(dbo => $database_object); # stash the database object
=head2 Error Handling
When validation fails, and it will, you need to be able to report what failed
and why. L<Validation::Class> give you complete control over error handling and
messages. Errors can exist at the field-level and class-level (errors not
specific to a particular field). All errors are wrapped in a
L<Validation::Class::Errors> container.
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
# print a comma separated list of class and field errors
print $rules->errors_to_string unless $rules->validate;
# print a newline separated list of class and field errors
print $rules->errors_to_string("\n") unless $rules->validate;
# print a comma separated list of class and upper-cased field errors
print $rules->errors_to_string(undef, sub{ ucfirst lc shift })
# print total number of errors at the class and field levels
print "Found %s errors", $rules->error_count;
# return a hashref of fields with errors
my $errors = $rules->error_fields;
# get errors for specific fields only
my @errors = $rules->get_errors('email', 'login');
=head2 Input Filtering
Filtering data is one fringe benefits of a good data validation framework. The
process is also known as scrubbing or sanitizing data. The process ensures that
the data being passed to the business logic will be clean and consistent.
Filtering data is not as simple and straight-forward as it may seem which is why
it is necessary to think-through your applications interactions before
implementation.
Filtering is the process of applying transformations to the incoming data. The
problem with filtering is that it permanently alters the data input and in the
event of a failure could report inconsistent error messages:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new;
$rules->fields->add(
# even if the input is submitted as lowercase it will fail
# the filter is run as a pre-process by default
username => {
filters => ['uppercase'],
validation => sub {
return 0 if $_[1]->value =~ /[A-Z]/;
return 1;
}
}
);
When designing a system to filter data, it is always necessary to differentiate
pre-processing filters from post-processing filters. L<Validation::Class>
provides a filtering directive which designates certain fields to run filters in
post-processing:
$rules->fields->add(
# if the input is submitted as lowercase it will pass
username => {
filters => ['uppercase'],
filtering => 'post',
validation => sub {
return 0 if $_[1]->value =~ /[A-Z]/;
return 1;
}
}
);
=head2 Handling Failures
A data validation framework exists to handle failures, it is its main function
and purpose, in-fact, the difference between a validation framework and a
type-constraint system is how it responds to errors.
When a type-constraint system finds an error it raises an exception. Exception
handling is the process of responding to the occurrence, during computation, of
exceptions (anomalous or exceptional situations).
Typically the errors reported when an exception is raised includes a dump of the
program's state up until the point of the exception which is apropos as exceptions
are unexpected.
A data validation framework can also be thought-of as a type system but one that
is specifically designed to expect input errors and report user-friendly error
messages.
L<Validation::Class> may encounter exceptions as programmers defined validation
rules which remain mutable. L<Validation::Class> provides attributes for
determining how the validation engine reacts to exceptions and validation
failures:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new(
ignore_failure => 1, # do not throw errors if validation fails
ignore_unknown => 0, # throw errors if unknown directives are found
report_failure => 0, # register errors if "method validations" fail
report_unknown => 0, # register errors if "unknown directives" are found
);
=head2 Data Validation
Once your fields are defined and you have your parameter rules configured as
desired you will like use the validate method to perform all required operations.
The validation operations occur in the following order:
normalization (resetting fields, clearing existing errors, etc)
pre-processing (applying filters, etc)
validation (processing directives, etc)
post-processing (applying filters, etc)
What gets validated is determined by the state and arguments passed to the
validate method. The validate method determines what to validate in the
following order:
checks the validation queue for fields
checks arguments for regular expression objects and adds matching fields
validates fields with matching parameters if no fields are specified
validates all fields if no parameters are specified
It is also important to under what it means to declare a field as being required.
A field is a data validation rule matching a specific parameter, A required
field simply means that if-and-when a parameter is submitted, it is required to
have a value. It does not mean that a field is always required to be validated.
Occasionally you may need to temporarily set a field as required or
not-required for a specific validation operation. This requirement is referred
to as the toggle function. The toggle function is enacted by prefixing a field
name with a plus or minus sign (+|-) when passed to the validate method:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new(fields => {...});
# meaning, email is always required to have a value
# however password and password2 can be submitted as empty strings
# but if password and password2 have values they will be validated
$rules->validate('+email', '-password', '-password2');
Here are a few examples and explanations of using the validate method:
use Validation::Simple;
my $rules = Validation::Simple->new(fields => {...});
unless ($rules->validate) {
# validate all fields with matching parameters
}
unless ($rules->validate) {
# validate all fields because no parameters were submitted
}
unless ($rules->validate(qr/^email/)) {
# validate all fields whose name being with email
# e.g. email, email2, email_update
}
unless ($rules->validate('login', 'password')) {
# validate the login and password specifically
# regardless of what parameters have been set
}
unless ($rules->validate({ user => 'login', pass => 'password' })) {
# map user and pass parameters to the appropriate fields as aliases
# and validate login and password fields using the aliases
}
=head1 EXTENSIBILITY
Validation::Class does NOT provide method modifiers but can be easily extended
with L<Class::Method::Modifiers>.
=head2 before
before foo => sub { ... };
See L<< Class::Method::Modifiers/before method(s) => sub { ... } >> for full
documentation.
=head2 around
around foo => sub { ... };
See L<< Class::Method::Modifiers/around method(s) => sub { ... } >> for full
documentation.
=head2 after
after foo => sub { ... };
See L<< Class::Method::Modifiers/after method(s) => sub { ... } >> for full
documentation.
=head1 AUTHOR
Al Newkirk <anewkirk@ana.io>
=head1 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.
=cut