Validation

Validating values with ApproveJs is easy.

To run a test, ApproveJs exposes a single method called value() that requires two parameters. The first parameter is the value you wish to test, and the second parameter is an object containing the rules you wish to test against.

approve.value('value', rules);

The Rules Object:

The rules object is how you will tell ApproveJs to test your value. It is a simple object containing the name of each test to perform as a property, and it’s constraints as it’s value. For example:

var rules = {
    test: constraint
};

Let’s pretend we want to approve a value against the email and required tests.

var rules = {
    required: true,
    email: true
};

var result = approve.value('user@domain.com', rules);

The above code will check whether the value is present (required = true) and whether it is a valid email address (email = true).

You’ll notice we only passed a boolean as the constraint for the required and email tests. That is because the require and email tests expect no constraints. Some tests, however, expect one or more constraints. For instance:

The min test that checks for a minimum length, expects an integer value to test against:

var rules = {
    min: 5
};

var result = approve.value('This text is longer than 5 characters', rules);

We could also pass the constraint in an object, and ApproveJs will correctly pass it to the test, for example:

var rules = {
    min: {
        min: 5
    }
};

var result = approve.value('This text is longer than 5 characters', rules);

That will do exactly the same thing, although, that seems like overkill. But hang on, there’s a reason for that, configuration.

For tests that expect more than one constraint, an object containing those is required. For instance:

The range test that checks whether a value has a minimum of n characters and a maximum of n characters expects min and max. For example:

var rules = {
    range: {
        min: 5,
        max: 20
    }
};

var result = approve.value('This text is longer than 5 characters', rules);

If an expected constraint is not present in the rules, ApproveJs will throw an error to the console letting you know.

Test Results

ApproveJs returns a default object as a result.

{
    approved: boolean,
    errors: [],
    failed: [],
    **tests**
}

result.approved will be true if all the tests passed, otherwise false .

result.errors is an array containing all error messages of all failed tests.

result.failed is an array containing a list of tests that failed i.e.

{
    failed: [
        'required',
        'email'
    ]
}

The result will also contain a property for each test that was performed and its own errors i.e.

Consider the following code:

var rules = {
    required: true,
    email: true
};

var result = approve.value('example@domain.com', rules);

The result will contain a property for each rule with the same name, that has its own properties regarding the outcome of the test i.e.

{
    approved: boolean,
    errors: [],
    failed: [],
    required: {
        approved: boolean,
        errors: []
    },
    email: {
        approved: boolean,
        errors: []
    }
}

This allows you easier access to specific test results.

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Note

Some tests, such as strength, might return additional properties with its result. Learn more from built in tests.