Castle validator

[whosrdaddy]

Hi I am using Caste Validator in my domain objects.

here's an excerpt of my code

namespace DCM.Data.Models
{
    public class UserEntity : EntityBase
    {
        [ValidateNonEmpty("RuleNotEmpty, Username")]
        public virtual string Username { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Password { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Fullname { get; set; }
        public virtual bool IsDeleted { get; set; }
        public virtual LanguageEntity Language { get; set; }
        public virtual IList<RoleEntity> Roles { get; private set; }

        public UserEntity()
        {
            Roles = new List<RoleEntity>();
        }

        public virtual void Validate()
        {
            var errors = LocalizedCastleValidationRunner.GetErrors(this).ToList();
            errors.AddRange(ValidateNonAdminUser(this));
            if (errors.Any())
                throw new RulesException(errors);
            
        }

        public static IEnumerable<ErrorInfo> ValidateNonAdminUser(UserEntity userEntity)
        {
            if (userEntity.Username.ToLower().Equals("admin"))
                yield return new ErrorInfo("Username", "RuleNonAdmin");
        }
    }
}

I don't like this code 100%.

what I would like to achieve is this:

namespace DCM.Data.Models
{
    public class UserEntity : EntityBase
    {
        [ValidateNonEmpty("RuleNotEmpty, Username")]
        public virtual string Username { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Password { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Fullname { get; set; }
        public virtual bool IsDeleted { get; set; }
        public virtual LanguageEntity Language { get; set; }
        public virtual IList<RoleEntity> Roles { get; private set; }

        public UserEntity()
        {
            Roles = new List<RoleEntity>();
        }

        public virtual void Validate()
        {
          ANewCastleValidationRunner
             .ValidateModel(this)              
             .AddCustomValidator(ValidateNonAdminUser)
             .AddCustomValidator(ValidateSomethingElse)
         }

        public static IEnumerable<ErrorInfo> ValidateNonAdminUser()
        {
            if (this.Username.ToLower().Equals("admin"))
                yield return new ErrorInfo("Username", "RuleNonAdmin");
        }
    }
}

I don't know to implement the ".AddCustomValidator(ValidateNonAdminUser)" part.

for reference this is the LocalizedCastleValidationRunner:

internal class LocalizedCastleValidationRunner
    {
        private static readonly CachedValidationRegistry registry = new CachedValidationRegistry();

        public static string LocalizedString(string key)
        {
            // allow for multiple parameters
            // syntax: parm1,parm2,parm3
            // will return string.format(parm1, string.format(parm2, parm3));
            var keys = key.Split(',');
            var res = new ResourceManager(typeof (SR)) {IgnoreCase = true};
            var message = string.Empty;
            try
            {
                for (var x = keys.Length - 1; x > -1; x--)
                {
                    var msg = res.GetString(keys[x].Trim(), Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture);
                    if (message.Equals(string.Empty))
                    {
                        message += msg;
                    }
                    else
                        message = string.Format(msg, message);
                }
                return message;
            }
            catch
            {
                return key;
            }
        }

        public static IList<ErrorInfo> GetErrors(object instance)
        {            
            var result = new List<ErrorInfo>();
            var runner = new ValidatorRunner(registry);
            if (!runner.IsValid(instance))
            {
                var errorSummary = runner.GetErrorSummary(instance);
                result.AddRange(from prop in errorSummary.InvalidProperties
                                from err in errorSummary.GetErrorsForProperty(prop)
                                // err is in fact a key for our resource
                                select new ErrorInfo(prop, LocalizedString(err)));
            }
            return result;
        }

    }
}

/Daddy

-----------------------------------------------------
What You See Is What You Get
Never underestimate tha powah of tha google!

 

[whosrdaddy]

or this would be even better:

...
        public virtual void Validate()
        {
            MyNewCastleValidator.Validate(this);            
        }

        public static ICustomValidator ValidateNonAdminUser()
        {
            // add custom businessrule here
        }

this would require that MyNewCastleValidator discovers all static methods that return a ICustomValidator and run them.

is this even possible?

/Daddy

-----------------------------------------------------
What You See Is What You Get
Never underestimate tha powah of tha google!

 

[jmeckley]

you will get a better response in the castle forum.

it is possible to discover public static methods returning ICustomValidator using reflection. I have only used the castle validators for simple validation on my view models.

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.

faq855-7190
faq732-7259

 

[whosrdaddy]

it is possible to discover public static methods returning ICustomValidator using reflection

Busy on that, any pointers are welcome...

in fact I'm not doing validation on my viewmodels (as they are a collection of DTO's). I want validation built in on my domain models (entities) and because this is a multiculture project, I need to string resources.
I know that the latest castle build has multilang resources but I want to use my own resource files and own error messages. The reason I use castle is because it pluggable to xVal (client side validation with jquery). Are there better alternatives out there?

/Daddy

-----------------------------------------------------
What You See Is What You Get
Never underestimate tha powah of tha google!

 

[whosrdaddy]

got it, lot happier now, but still pondering how to improve custom validation methods:

    public class UserEntity : EntityBase
    {
        [ValidateNonEmpty("RuleNotEmpty, Username")]
        public virtual string Username { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Password { get; set; }
        [ValidateNonEmpty]
        public virtual string Fullname { get; set; }
        public virtual bool IsDeleted { get; set; }
        public virtual LanguageEntity Language { get; set; }
        public virtual IList<RoleEntity> Roles { get; private set; }

        public UserEntity()
        {
            Roles = new List<RoleEntity>();
        }

        public virtual void Validate()
        {
            LocalizedCastleValidationRunner.ValidateObject(this);
        }

        public static ErrorInfo ValidateNonAdminUser(UserEntity userEntity)
        {
            if (userEntity.Username.ToLower().Equals("admin"))
                return new ErrorInfo("Username", "RuleNonAdmin");
            return null;
        }
    }

my "new" validator:

internal class LocalizedCastleValidationRunner
    {
        private static readonly CachedValidationRegistry registry = new CachedValidationRegistry();

        public static string LocalizedString(string key)
        {
            // allow for multiple parameters
            // syntax: parm1,parm2,parm3
            // will return string.format(parm1, string.format(parm2, parm3));
            var keys = key.Split(',');
            var res = new ResourceManager(typeof(SR)) { IgnoreCase = true };
            var message = string.Empty;
            try
            {
                for (var x = keys.Length - 1; x > -1; x--)
                {
                    var msg = res.GetString(keys[x].Trim(), Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture);
                    if (message.Equals(string.Empty))
                        message += msg;
                    else
                        message = string.Format(msg, message);
                }
                return message;
            }
            catch
            {
                return key;
            }
        }

        private static bool CheckMethod(MethodInfo method)
        {
            // our method must be static, public and has validate in it's name but is not named validate
            if (!method.IsPublic || !method.IsStatic || method.ToString().ToLower().Equals("validate"))
                return false;

            if (!method.ToString().ToLower().Contains("validate"))
                return false;
            return true;
        }

        private static IList<ErrorInfo> RunValidateMethods(object instance)
        {
            MethodInfo[] methods = instance.GetType().GetMethods();
            var errorInfoList = new List<ErrorInfo>();
            foreach (var m in methods)
            {
                if (CheckMethod(m))
                {
                    var userParameters = new object[1];
                    userParameters[0] = instance;
                    var errorInfo = (ErrorInfo)m.Invoke(instance, userParameters);
                    if (errorInfo != null)
                        errorInfoList.Add(errorInfo);
                }
            }
            return errorInfoList;
        }

        public static IList<ErrorInfo> GetErrors(object instance)
        {
            var result = new List<ErrorInfo>();
            var runner = new ValidatorRunner(registry);
            if (!runner.IsValid(instance))
            {
                var errorSummary = runner.GetErrorSummary(instance);
                result.AddRange(from prop in errorSummary.InvalidProperties
                                from err in errorSummary.GetErrorsForProperty(prop)
                                select new ErrorInfo(prop, err));
                result.AddRange(RunValidateMethods(instance));
            }
            return result;
        }

        public static void ValidateObject(object instance)
        {
            var errors = GetErrors(instance).ToList();            
            if (errors.Any())
                throw new RulesException(errors);
        }
    }

/Daddy

-----------------------------------------------------
What You See Is What You Get
Never underestimate tha powah of tha google!