Make enums validatable without raising error by mechnicov · Pull Request #49100 · rails/rails

mechnicov · 2023-09-01T01:35:09Z

Motivation / Background

There is a pretty old issue #13971
@dhh offered to make such contributions in 2017
But opened MR #41730 was not maintained since 2021
I tried to take into account the comments in that code review

Detail

This Pull Request adds :validate option for enums

If you want the enum value to be validated before saving, use the option :validate:

class Conversation < ApplicationRecord
  enum :status, %i[active archived], validate: true
end

conversation = Conversation.new

conversation.status = :unknown
conversation.valid? # => false

conversation.status = nil
conversation.valid? # => false

conversation.status = :active
conversation.valid? # => true

It is also possible to pass additional validation options:

class Conversation < ApplicationRecord
  enum :status, %i[active archived], validate: { allow_nil: true }
end

conversation = Conversation.new

conversation.status = :unknown
conversation.valid? # => false

conversation.status = nil
conversation.valid? # => true

conversation.status = :active
conversation.valid? # => true

Otherwise ArgumentError will raise (standard current behavior):

class Conversation < ApplicationRecord
  enum :status, %i[active archived]
end

conversation = Conversation.new

conversation.status = :unknown # 'unknown' is not a valid status (ArgumentError)

Additional information

This was intended as non-breaking change

Checklist

This Pull Request is related to one change. Changes that are unrelated should be opened in separate PRs.
Commit message has a detailed description of what changed and why. If this PR fixes a related issue include it in the commit message. Ex: [Fix #issue-number]
Tests are added or updated if you fix a bug or add a feature.
CHANGELOG files are updated for the changed libraries if there is a behavior change or additional feature. Minor bug fixes and documentation changes should not be included.

akhilgkrishnan · 2023-09-01T06:46:05Z

activerecord/lib/active_record/enum.rb

Is it expected for an ArgumentError to be raised when we explicitly include validate: false in the enum definition?

If that is the case, why do we need the validate option, since we are raising the error for both cases? I mean for 'true' and 'false' cases.

Yes, you don't need pass validate: false. Like in belongs_to you don't need to pass optional: false explicitly

TLDR:

when :validate is falsey (by default) — standard "old" behaviour with raising error

when :validate is truthy (need explicit specify) — soft adding of validation message

Detailed:

ArgumentError raises only if the validate argument is falsy (validate: nil or validate: false) and only if you try to assign invalid value. It is current behaviour of enum before this PR. And PR suggests keep this behaviour as is. That's why these change don't break legacy code. And you don't need pass validate: false explicitly. It is redundant like with above example (belongs_to :user, optional: false — it is unlikely somebody write)

If pass truthy validate argument, enum is validated with rails inclusion validation. If you try to assign invalid value, a validation error is added to the model instance (ArgumentError doesn't raise). But ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid can raise if use bang methods save!, create! etc.)

Please see examples in the PR description and tests. I think it will be more understandable

That makes sense @mechnicov. Thanks :)

rafaelfranca · 2023-09-01T18:44:14Z

validate as the name of this option is strange. Raising Argument error is a form of validation. Maybe a better name would be custom_validation?

rafaelfranca · 2023-09-01T18:53:43Z

Or invert the meaning validate: false is what disable the ArgumentError behavior, not validate: true. Or rename to strict: false matching the validates API.

:strict - If the :strict option is set to true will raise ActiveModel::StrictValidationFailed instead of adding the error. :strict option can also be set to any other exception.

mechnicov · 2023-09-01T18:58:29Z

@rafaelfranca yes, probably there is some ambiguity when we talk about validation in this particular case

validate was meant as "usual" rails validation. I don't think custom_validation is much better. I thought about active_record_validation option or something like this. But it seemed to me that it was too long a name. What are your thoughts on this?

I was also thinking about strict: false, but in this case it will be strange to pass hash with validation options. Or it is okay to have something like strict: { allow_nil: true }?

rafaelfranca · 2023-09-01T19:06:06Z

hmm. Good point. I think validate: true makes sense, specially if we are allowing options like :allow_nil.

Since #41730 is the original work for the enum attribute validation.

rails-bot bot added the activerecord label Sep 1, 2023

akhilgkrishnan reviewed Sep 1, 2023

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Make enums validatable without raising error

6ee0d5e

mechnicov force-pushed the make-enum-validatable-without-raising-error branch from d8b419b to 6ee0d5e Compare September 1, 2023 19:06

Trigger fail CI

e1be8db

rafaelfranca merged commit 7c65a4b into rails:main Sep 1, 2023

This was referenced Sep 2, 2023

ActiveRecord enum: use validation if exists instead of raising ArgumentError #13971

Closed

Propose a way to add validation on the enum attribute #41730

Closed

kamipo added a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 4, 2023

Add original author's credit for #49100 [ci-skip]

9084a90

Since #41730 is the original work for the enum attribute validation.

hendrixfan mentioned this pull request Feb 11, 2024

Add enum validation to DomainBlock#severity mastodon/mastodon#29158

Merged

ghost mentioned this pull request Feb 22, 2024

Readme: Now part of Rails CristiRazvi/enum_attributes_validation#17

Closed

ybiquitous mentioned this pull request May 27, 2024

Cop idea: Suggest using validate option for enums since Rails 7.1 rubocop/rubocop-rails#1285

Open

ghiculescu mentioned this pull request Jul 15, 2024

Uniqueness validation throws postgres error when enum with incorrect value is used as a scope #52279

Open

kitallis mentioned this pull request Sep 18, 2024

Use better enum validations on all Rails models tramlinehq/tramline#299

Open

egreer mentioned this pull request Jan 3, 2025

Rails 7.1+ Enum Validation gregnavis/active_record_doctor#205

Closed

julienbourdeau mentioned this pull request Sep 7, 2025

Introduce ActiveRecord.validate_enums_by_default config option #55632

Open

4 tasks

Sebmono mentioned this pull request Jan 19, 2026

Introduce ActiveRecord.validate_enums_by_default config option Sandgarden-Demo/rails#216

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4 tasks

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Make enums validatable without raising error#49100

Make enums validatable without raising error#49100
rafaelfranca merged 2 commits intorails:mainfrom
mechnicov:make-enum-validatable-without-raising-error

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