Validations

Sails bundles support for automatic validations of your models' attributes. Any time a record is updated, or a new record is created, the data for each attribute will be checked against all of your predefined validation rules. This provides a convenient failsafe to ensure that invalid entries don't make their way into your app's database(s).

Validation Rules

Validations are handled by Anchor, a thin layer on top of Validator, one of the most robust validation libraries for Node.js. Sails supports most of the validations available in Validator, as well as a few extras that require database integration, like unique.

Name of validator	What does it check?	Notes on usage
after	check if `string` date in this record is after the specified `Date`	must be valid javascript `Date`
alpha	check if `string` in this record contains only letters (a-zA-Z)
alphadashed		does this `string` contain only letters and/or dashes?
alphanumeric	check if `string` in this record contains only letters and numbers.
alphanumericdashed	does this `string` contain only numbers and/or letters and/or dashes?
array	is this a valid javascript `array` object?	strings formatted as arrays won't pass
before	check if `string` in this record is a date that's before the specified date
binary	is this binary data?	If it's a string, it will always pass
boolean	is this a valid javascript `boolean` ?	`string`s will fail
contains	check if `string` in this record contains the seed
creditcard	check if `string` in this record is a credit card
date	check if `string` in this record is a date	takes both strings and javascript
datetime	check if `string` in this record looks like a javascript `datetime`
decimal		contains a decimal or is less than 1?
email	check if `string` in this record looks like an email address
empty	Arrays, strings, or arguments objects with a length of 0 and objects with no own enumerable properties are considered "empty"	lo-dash _.isEmpty()
equals	check if `string` in this record is equal to the specified value	`===` ! They must match in both value and type
falsey	Would a Javascript engine register a value of `false` on this?
finite	Checks if given value is, or can be coerced to, a finite number	This is not the same as native isFinite which will return true for booleans and empty strings
float	check if `string` in this record is of the number type float
hexadecimal	check if `string` in this record is a hexadecimal number
hexColor	check if `string` in this record is a hexadecimal color
in	check if `string` in this record is in the specified array of allowed `string` values
int	check if `string` in this record is an integer
integer	same as above	Im not sure why there are two of these.
ip	check if `string` in this record is a valid IP (v4 or v6)
ipv4	check if `string` in this record is a valid IP v4
ipv6	check if `string` in this record is a valid IP v6
is		something to do with REGEX
json	does a try&catch to check for valid JSON.
len	is `integer` > param1 && < param2	Where are params defined?
lowercase	is this string in all lowercase?
max
maxLength	is `integer` > 0 && < param2
min
minLength
not		Something about regexes
notContains
notEmpty
notIn	does the value of this model attribute exist inside of the defined validator value (of the same type)	Takes strings and arrays
notNull	does this not have a value of `null` ?
notRegex
null	check if `string` in this record is null
number	is this a number?	NaN is considered a number
numeric	checks if `string` in this record contains only numbers
object	checks if this attribute is the language type of Object	Passes for arrays, functions, objects, regexes, new Number(0), and new String('') !
regex
protected	Should this attribute be removed when `toJSON` is called on a model instance?
required	Must this model attribute contain valid data before a new record can be created?
string	is this a `string` ?
text	okay, well is this a `string` ?
truthy	Would a Javascript engine register a value of `false` on this?
undefined	Would a javascript engine register this thing as have the value 'undefined' ?
unique	Checks to see if a new record model attribute is unique.
uppercase	checks if `string` in this record is uppercase
url	checks if `string` in this record is a URL
urlish	Does the `string` in this record contain something that looks like a route, ending with a file extension?	/^\s(^\/+.)+.+\s*$/g
uuid	checks if `string` in this record is a UUID (v3, v4, or v5)
uuidv3	checks if `string` in this record is a UUID (v3)
uuidv4	checks if `string` in this record is a UUID (v4)

Custom Validation Rules

You can define your own types and their validation with the types object. It's possible to access and compare values to other attributes (with "this"). This allows you to move validation business logic into your models and out of your controller logic.

Note that your own type always have to be a variant of the basic data-types ("string", "int", "json", ...)

Example Model

// api/models/foo
module.exports = {

  types: {
    is_point: function(geoLocation){
      return geoLocation.x && geoLocation.y
    },
    password: function(password) {
      return password === this.passwordConfirmation;
    }
  },
  attributes: {
    firstName: {
      type: 'string',
      required: true,
      minLength: 5,
      maxLength: 15
    },
    location: {
      //note, that the base type (json) still has to be defined
      type: 'json',
      is_point: true
    },
    password: {
      type: 'string',
      password: true
    },
    passwordConfirmation: {
      type: 'string'
    }

  }
}

Custom Validation Messages

Out of the box, Sails.js does not support custom validation messages. However, for Sails v0.11.0+ a Hook is available: sails-hook-validator. Details regarding its usage can be found in the sails-hook-validator repository.