Develop Reference

FluentValidation validate Enum value

I have the following model:
public class ViewDataItem
{
public string viewName { get; set; }
public UpdateIndicator updateIndicator { get; set; }
}
With the following enum:
public enum UpdateIndicator
{
Original,
Update,
Delete
}
And the following Validator:
public class ViewValidator : AbstractValidator<ViewDataItem>
{
public ViewValidator()
{
RuleFor(x => x.viewName).NotEmpty().WithMessage("View name must be specified");
RuleFor(x => x.updateIndicator).SetValidator(new UpdateIndicatorEnumValidator<UpdateIndicator>());
}
}
public class UpdateIndicatorEnumValidator<T> : PropertyValidator
{
public UpdateIndicatorEnumValidator() : base("Invalid update indicator") {}
protected override bool IsValid(PropertyValidatorContext context)
{
UpdateIndicator enumVal = (UpdateIndicator)Enum.Parse(typeof(UpdateIndicator), context.PropertyValue.ToString());
if (!Enum.IsDefined(typeof(UpdateIndicator), enumVal))
return false;
return true;
}
}
The code is in a WebAPI that receives data via JSON, deserialize it to an object and then validates, but for some reason I can send whatever I please in the updateIndicator, so long as I don't put in an integer value larger than the max index in the enum (i.e 1,2 or 3 works fine, but 7 will generate an error).
How can I get this to validate the input of the data I receive to see if that value is actually in the Enum?

Try the built-in IsInEnum()
RuleFor(x => x.updateIndicator).IsInEnum();
This checks if the provided enum value is within the range of your enum, if not, the validation will fail:
"'updateIndicator' has a range of values which does not include '7'."

The problem arises from the fact that the API model builder will convert what is sent to an enum. If a value isn't found, it doesn't populate it, and the default value is used (as it would be with any other property data type that isn't populated).
In order to easily tell if the value sent is a valid enum value, you should make your property nullable. That way, if a value isn't able to be parsed, it will be set to null. If you want to ensure that the property is set, just have your validator not allow null values for it.
public class ViewDataItem
{
public string viewName { get; set; }
public UpdateIndicator? updateIndicator { get; set; }
}
public class ViewValidator : AbstractValidator<ViewDataItem>
{
public ViewValidator()
{
RuleFor(x => x.viewName).NotEmpty().WithMessage("View name must be specified");
RuleFor(x => x.updateIndicator).NotNull();
}
}
Without setting the property to null, your model will always have a valid value when you have it. Alternatively, you could have the first value of your enum be a dummy value, but that would be a code smell. A null model property makes far more sense.
If you want to find out what the actual value that was sent to the API endpoint was, you'll need to look at creating an HTTP Handler, which is beyond the scope of this question.

Specify a unique identifier attribute for an object across webapi Models

In a POST call to a WebApi I am trying to return a Created(newobject) thing. But there is no signature for Created in ApiController that can only take the object and do the rest.
It works fine if I return something like:
return Created(newobject.blahid.ToString(), newobject);
or if I do a
return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { controller = ControllerContext.ControllerDescriptor.ControllerName, id = newobject.blahid.ToString()}, newobject);
I want to simplify this to:
return Created(newobject);
I would need to implement a method in a BaseController
public class BaseController : ApiController
{
protected new CreatedNegotiatedContentResult<T> Created<T>(T content)
{
var id = GetId(content);//need help here
return base.Created(id, content);
}
}
I don't want to worry about the Unique Identifier for an object being called differently in different models e.g. myobjguid, someblahguid etc. I would just want to find it out and mark it as "id".
say if my model is
public class Model_A
{
public List<Model_A> ChildModels { get; set; }
[LookForThisAttribute]//I want something like this
public Guid Model_AGuid { set; get; }
public Guid ? ParentGuid { set; get; }
public List<SomeOtherObject> OtherObjects { set; get; }
}
Is there an attribute([LookForThisAttribute]) or something I can set on all my models to specify that this is the guy to be assumed as THE unique identifier if I ever look for it.
Just like the [Key] attribute in Entity Framework. No matter what you call it, Entity Framework know its going to be the primary key.
So the GetId(T content) method can take the object and return the value of the property that has a [LookForThisAttribute] set?

I ended up writing my own Attribute and then looking up for it in the BaseController.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property, AllowMultiple = false)]
public sealed class UniqueIdAttribute: Attribute
{
}
And in the BaseController Created method:
protected CreatedNegotiatedContentResult<T> Created<T>(T content)
{
var props =typeof(T).GetProperties().Where(
prop => Attribute.IsDefined(prop, typeof(UniqueIdAttribute)));
if (props.Count() == 0)
{
//log this
return base.Created(Request.RequestUri.ToString(), content);
}
var id = props.FirstOrDefault().GetValue(content).ToString();
return base.Created(new Uri(Request.RequestUri + id), content);
}
Mark Gravell's post here helped me with getting the value of the property that has my custom attribute:
How to get a list of properties with a given attribute?
Along with a corresponding unit test for the controllers works fine for me.
Now I can just call Created(anyobject); from all ApiControllers without bothering about the different names people put for their IDs as long as they decorate it with my custom attribute.

C# Entity Framework: Data validation between add to context and saveChanges()

I have a simple scenario using the Entity Framework in C#. I have an Entity Post:
public class Post
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
}
In my PostManager I have these methods:
public int AddPost(string name, string description)
{
var post = new Post() { Name = name, Description = description };
using (var db = new DbContext())
{
var res = db.Posts.Add(post);
res.Validate();
db.SaveChanges();
return res.Id;
}
}
public void UpdatePost(int postId, string newName, string newDescription)
{
using (var db = new DbContext())
{
var data = (from post in db.Posts.AsEnumerable()
where post.Id == postId
select post).FirstOrDefault();
data.Name = newName;
data.Description = newDescription;
data.Validate();
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
The method validate() refers to class:
public static class Validator
{
public static void Validate(this Post post)
{
if ( // some control)
throw new someException();
}
I call the validate method before the savechanges() but after adding the object to the context. What's the best practice to validate data in this simple scenario? It's better validate the arguments instead? What's happen to object post if the validate method throw exception after adding the object to the context?
UPDATE:
I have to throw a custom set of exception depending on data validation error.

I strongly recommend you to (if at all possible) to modify your entity so the setters are private (don't worry, EF can still set them on proxy creation), mark the default constructor as protected (EF can still do lazy loading/proxy creation), and make the only public constructors available check the arguments.
This has several benefits:
You limit the number of places where the state of an entity can be changed, leading to less duplication
You protect your class' invariants. By forcing creation of an entity to go via a constructor, you ensure that it is IMPOSSIBLE for an object of your entity to exist in an invalid or unknown state.
You get higher cohesion. By putting the constraints on data closer to the data itself, it becomes easier to understand and reason about your classes.
You code becomes self-documenting to a higher degree. One never has to wonder "is it OK if I set a negative value on this int property?" if it is impossible to even do it in the first place.
Separation of concerns. Your manager shouldn't know how to validate an entity, this just leads to high coupling. I've seen many managers grow into unmaintainable monsters because they simply do everything. Persisting, loading, validation, error handling, conversion, mapping etc. This is basically the polar opposite of SOLID OOP.
I know it is really popular nowadays to just make all "models" into stupid property bags with getters and setters and only a default constructor because (bad) ORMs have forced us to do this, but this is no longer the case, and there are so many issues with this imo.
Code example:
public class Post
{
protected Post() // this constructor is only for EF proxy creation
{
}
public Post(string name, string description)
{
if (/* validation check, inline or delegate */)
throw new ArgumentException();
Name = name;
Description = description;
}
public int Id { get; private set; }
public string Name { get; private set; }
public string Description { get; private set; }
}
Then your PostManager code becomes trivial:
using (var db = new DbContext())
{
var post = new Post(name, description); // possibly try-catch here
db.Posts.Add(post);
db.SaveChanges();
return post.Id;
}
If the creation/validation logic is extremely intricate this pattern lends itself very well for refactoring to a factory taking care of the creation.
I would also note that encapsulating data in entities exposing a minimal state-changing API leads to classes that are several orders of magnitude easier to test in isolation, if you care at all about that sort of thing.

As I mentioned in the comments above, you might want to check out .NET System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations namespace.
Data Annotations (DA) allows you to specify attributes on properties to describe what values are acceptable. It's important to know that DA is completely independent of databases and ORM APIs such as Entity Framework so classes decorated with DA attributes can be used in any tier of your system whether it be the data tier; WCF; ASP.NET MVC or WPF.
In the example below, I define a Muppet class with a series of properties.
Name is required and has a max length of 50.
Scaryness takes an int but it must be in the range of {0...100}.
Email is decorated with an imaginary custom validator for validating strings that should contain an e-mail.
Example:
public class Muppet
{
[Required]
[StringLength(50)]
public string Name {get; set;}
public Color Color {get; set; }
[Range(0,100)]
public int Scaryness {get; set; }
[MyCustomEmailValidator]
public string Email {get;set; }
}
In my project I have to throw customException when i validate the data. It's possible do it using Data Annotations?
Yes you can. To validate this object at any time of your application (regardless of whether it has reached EF or not) just perform this:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Linq;
.
.
.
Post post = ... // fill it in
Validator.Validate(post);
public static class Validator
{
public static void Validate(this Post post)
{
// uses the extension method GetValidationErrors defined below
if (post.GetValidationErrors().Any())
{
throw new MyCustomException();
}
}
}
public static class ValidationHelpers
{
public static IEnumerable<ValidationResult> GetValidationErrors(this object obj)
{
var validationResults = new List<ValidationResult>();
var context = new ValidationContext(obj, null, null);
Validator.TryValidateObject(obj, context, validationResults, true);
return validationResults;
}
.
.
.
If you want to get the validation error messages you could use this method:
/// <summary>
/// Gets the validation error messages for column.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj">The object.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string GetValidationErrorMessages(this object obj)
{
var error = "";
var errors = obj.GetValidationErrors();
var validationResults = errors as ValidationResult[] ?? errors.ToArray();
if (!validationResults.Any())
{
return error;
}
foreach (var ee in validationResults)
{
foreach (var n in ee.MemberNames)
{
error += ee + "; ";
}
}
return error;
}
The free set of steak knives is that the validation attributes will be detected once the object reaches EF where it will be validated there as well in case you forget or the object is changed since.

I think you should be working with Data Annotation as #Micky says above. Your current approach is validating manually after it has been added.
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
// Your class
public class Post
{
[Required]
public int Id { get; set; }
[Required,MaxLength(50)]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Required,MinLength(15),MyCustomCheck] // << Here is your custom validator
public string Description { get; set; }
}
// Your factory methods
public class MyFactory() {
public bool AddPost() {
var post = new Post() { Id = 1, Name = null, Description = "This is my test post"};
try {
using (var db = new DbContext()) {
db.Posts.Add(post);
db.SaveChanges();
return true;
}
} catch(System.Data.Entity.Validation.DbEntityValidationException e) {
Console.WriteLine("Something went wrong....");
} catch(MyCustomException e) {
Console.WriteLine(" a Custom Exception was triggered from a custom data annotation...");
}
return false;
}
}
// The custom attribute
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property | AttributeTargets.Field, AllowMultiple = false)]
sealed public class MyCustomCheckAttribute : ValidationAttribute
{
public override bool IsValid(object value)
{
if (value instanceof string) {
throw new MyCustomException("The custom exception was just triggered....")
} else {
return true;
}
}
}
// Your custom exception
public class MyCustomException : Exception() {}
See also:
DbEntityValidationException class: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.entity.validation.dbentityvalidationexception(v=vs.113).aspx
Default data annotations
http://www.entityframeworktutorial.net/code-first/dataannotation-in-code-first.aspx
Building your custom data annotations (validators):
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668224.aspx

I always use two validations:
client side - using jQuery Unobtrusive Validation in combination with Data Annotations
server side validation - and here it depends on application - validation is performed in controller actions or deeper in business logic. Nice place to do it is to override OnSave method in your context and do it there
Remember that you can write custom Data Annotation attributes which can validate whatever you need.

You can modify the code in this way:
public int AddPost(string name, string description)
{
var post = new Post() { Name = name, Description = description };
if(res.Validate())
{
using (var db = new DbContext())
{
var res = db.Posts.Add(post);
db.SaveChanges();
return res.Id;
}
}
else
return -1; //if not success
}
public static bool Validate(this Post post)
{
bool isValid=false;
//validate post and change isValid to true if success
if(isvalid)
return true;
}
else
return false;
}

After adding data to DbContext and before calling SaveChanges() you can call GetValidationErrors() method of DbContext and check its count to quiqckly check if there are any errors. You can further enumerate all of errors and get error details against each of them. I have bundled Error conversion from ICollection to string in GetValidationErrorsString() extension method.
if (db.GetValidationErrors().Count() > 0)
{
var errorString = db.GetValidationErrorsString();
}
public static string GetValidationErrorsString(this DbContext dbContext)
{
var validationErrors = dbContext.GetValidationErrors();
string errorString = string.Empty;
foreach (var error in validationErrors)
{
foreach (var innerError in error.ValidationErrors)
{
errorString += string.Format("Property: {0}, Error: {1}<br/>", innerError.PropertyName, innerError.ErrorMessage);
}
}
return errorString;
}

Data annotation validation attribute - mandatory set (i.e. one of many is required)

We want to use data annotation validation attributes to express that within a certain property set at least one is required.
E.g.:
class X
{
[Set("Set1", Validation=typeof(RequiredAttribute))]
public string A { get; set; }
[Set("Set1", Validation=typeof(RequiredAttribute))]
public string B { get; set; }
}
Which would mean that either A or B must be set. Is something like that already existing?
If not, is there a chance that you can reach the parent object of the object-to-validate in a custom data annotation validation attribute so that we can do that ourselves? Currently we only get either A or B and have no chance to reach the other.

You can, but not that way. You need to make your class part of the IValidatableObject interface (it's also from the DataAnnotations namespace).
Then you can implement a validation function in which you can check the validity using your own business logic.
Note: The name and signature of the Validate method are fixed, as they come from the interface.
public class Actor : AbstractDataholder, IValidatableObject
{
public string A { get; set; }
public string B { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<ValidationResult> Validate(ValidationContext validationContext)
{
if(string.IsnullorWhiteSpace(this.A) && string.IsnullorWhiteSpace(this.B))
return new ValidationResult("NOT VALID");
}
}

Either Or Required Validation

I want to use ComponentModel DataAnnotations validate that at least one of two properties has a value. My model looks like this:
public class FooModel {
public string Bar1 { get; set; }
public int Bar2 { get; set; }
}
Basically, I want to validate FooModel so that either Bar1 or Bar2 is required. In other words, you can enter one, or the other, or both, but you can't just leave them both empty.
I would prefer that this worked both for server-side and unobtrusive client-side validation.
EDIT: This may be a possible duplicate, as this looks similar to what I'm looking to do

You would need to extend the ValidationAttribute class and over ride the IsValid method, and implement the IClientValidatable if you want to pump custom JavaScript to do the validation. something like below.
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Property)]
public sealed class AtLeastOneOrTwoParamsHasValue : ValidationAttribute, IClientValidatable
{
protected override ValidationResult IsValid(object value, ValidationContext validationContext)
{
var param1 = validationContext.ObjectInstance.GetType().GetProperty("Param1").GetValue(value, null);
//var param2 = validationContext.ObjectInstance.GetType().GetProperty("Param2").GetValue(value, null);
//DO Compare logic here.
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Convert.ToString(param1)))
{
return ValidationResult.Success;
}
return new ValidationResult("Some Error");
}
public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context)
{
//Do custom client side validation hook up
yield return new ModelClientValidationRule
{
ErrorMessage = FormatErrorMessage(metadata.DisplayName),
ValidationType = "validParam"
};
}
}
Usage:
[AtLeastOneOrTwoParamsHasValue(ErrorMessage="Atleast one param must be specified.")]

This worked for me, a simple solution, just using .net without any third party:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/69621414/6742644
Like this:
public class EditModel
{
public string ISBN { get; set; }
public string ISBN13 { get; set; }
[RegularExpression("True|true", ErrorMessage = "At least one field must be given a value")]
public bool Any => ISBN != null || ISBN13 != null;
}
Also good to know is that you can add any attributes to the properties in the model, like MinLength, MaxLength, etc. Just do not add the Required attribute.