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pharams

★ 38 Open GitHub ↗

Parameter validation for Elixir Phoenix Framework

// repository documentation

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# Pharams

[![Hex.pm](https://img.shields.io/hexpm/v/pharams.svg)](http://hex.pm/packages/pharams)

**WORK IN PROGRESS**

Define Phoenix parameter validators declaratively. Under the hood, the Pharams macros make use of Ecto.Schema and as a results, errors are provided in the form of changesets. These error changesets can then be sent to any error view of your choosing (Pharams comes with a very basic error view out of the box). In addition, the usage of the `pharams` macro will inject a Plug in your controller so that the `params` variable passed to your Phoenix controller action function has already already been validated. The `params` variable passed to your function controller is a map which mirrors your schema with atoms as keys.

## Installation

[Available in Hex](https://hex.pm/packages/pharams), the package can be installed
by adding `pharams` to your list of dependencies in `mix.exs`:

```elixir
def deps do
  [
    {:pharams, "~> 0.10.0"}
  ]
end
```

If you would like the formatter to not add parenthesis to `required` and `optional` you can add the following to you `.formatter.exs`:

```
[
  import_deps: [:pharams]
]
```

Documentation can be found at [https://hexdocs.pm/pharams](https://hexdocs.pm/pharams).

## Usage

To get started, add the following to your Phoenix Controller:

```elixir
use Pharams
```

If you would like to configure the Pharams module to use a different error view or status code you can do the following (shown with defaults):

```elixir
# error_status takes an atom (see https://github.com/elixir-plug/plug/blob/master/lib/plug/conn/status.ex for full list of supported statuses)
use Pharams, view_module: Pharams.ErrorView, view_template: "errors.json", error_status: :unprocessable_entity, key_type: :atom, drop_nil_fields: false
```

Next you can use the `pharams` macro to define the validator that should be used against incoming requests. Below is a simple example:

```elixir
pharams :index do
  required :terms_conditions, :boolean
  required :password, :string
  required :password_confirmation, :string
  optional :age, :integer
end

def index(conn, params) do
  # You will only get into this function if the request
  # parameters have passed the above validator. The params
  # variable is now just a map with atoms as keys.

render(conn, "index.html")
end
```

Let's break down what is happening here. Before the `do` block, we specify to which action the validator will apply. In this case the `:index` atom is provided because we want the validation to take place against the `def index` action in the controller. Next, we define which fields are required/optional in the request, and what their types are. Simple enough so far :), let's look at a more complex example.

In the following example, we will create a validator with a bit more functionality:

```elixir
pharams :index do
  required :terms_conditions, :boolean, acceptance: []
  required :password, :string, confirmation: [], length: [min: 8, max: 16]
  required :password_confirmation, :string
  required :age, :integer, number: [greater_than: 16, less_than: 110]

optional :interests, {:array, :string},
    subset: ["art", "music", "technology"],
    length: [max: 2]

optional :favorite_programming_language, :string,
    exclusion: ~w(Java Perl PHP),
    default: "Elixir"

required :addresses, :one do
    required :billing_address, :one do
      required :street_line_1, :string
      optional :street_line_2, :string
      required :zip_code, :string, format: ~r/\d{5}/

required :coordinates, :one do
        required :lat, :float
        required :long, :float
      end
    end

required :shipping_address, :one do
      required :street_line_1, :string
      optional :street_line_2, :string
      required :zip_code, :string, format: ~r/\d{5}/

required :coordinates, :one do
        required :lat, :float
        required :long, :float
      end
    end
  end
end

def index(conn, params) do
  # You will only get into this function if the request
  # parameters have passed the above validator. The params
  # variable is now just a map with atoms as keys.

render(conn, "index.html")
end
```

Let's break this one down as well to make things clearer. As you can see, you can also have embedded `required` and `optional` schemas in your validator declaration (for example the `:addresses` schema contains both `:billing_address` and `:shipping_address` schemas). You can also pass in a keyword list of additional options for fields. For example the `:favorite_programming_language` field can have a default value of `Elixir`, and using the `Ecto.Changeset.validate_exclusion/4` via the `exclusion: ~w(Java Perl PHP)` keyword entry, you can validate that the string is not in the provided list. All of the `Ecto.Changeset.validate_*` functions are supported, with the caveat that you call them without their `validate_` prefix. You can also get fairly involved with your validations using the `validate_change` Ecto.Changeset function:

```elixir
pharams :index do
  required(:rand, :string,
    change: [
      :something,
      fn :rand, rand ->
        if rand == "foo" do
          [rand: "cannot be foo"]
        else
          []
        end
      end
    ]
  )
end
```

When using the `Ecto.Changeset.validate_*/3` functions, all you have to provide is the last argument. The Pharams macro will populate the first two parameters under the hood for you. When using the `Ecto.Changeset.validate_*/4` functions, you have to pass the last two parameters as a list. See below the two different uses of `validate_subset`:

```elixir
# Using Ecto.Changeset.validate_subset/3
optional(:interests, {:array, :string},
  subset: ["art", "music", "technology"],
  length: [max: 2]
)

# Using Ecto.Changeset.validate_subset/4
optional(:interests, {:array, :string},
  subset: [["art", "music", "technology"], [message: "Only 3 cool interests to pick from!"]],
  length: [max: 2]
)
```

Another thing to note in this example is that multiple `Ecto.Changeset.validate_*` functions can be applied to a specific field. In this example, both `validate_length` and `validate_subset` are used.

One of last things to cover is that you have the ability to define whether an embedded schema is only embedded once or many times. See the following examples:

```elixir
pharams :index do
  required :item, :one do
    required :quantity, :integer, number: [greater_than: 0, less_than: 100]
    required :item_id, Ecto.UUID
  end
end

# Versus

pharams :index do
  required :items, :many do
    required :quantity, :integer, number: [greater_than: 0, less_than: 100]
    required :item_id, Ecto.UUID
  end
end
```

With the former, your params will look like so:

```elixir
%{
  item: %{
    item_id: "7c1bb0bf-8f31-4dbc-88c5-568f11ab7443",
    quantity: 5
  }
}
```

While with the latter, your params will like like this:

```elixir
%{
  items: [
    %{
      item_id: "7c1bb0bf-8f31-4dbc-88c5-568f11ab7443",
      quantity: 5
    }
  ]
}
```

If you would like to drop nil or empty fields from your params (empty fields meaning `nil, %{}, "", and []`) then you can either set the option on the individual route like so:

```
pharams :update, drop_nil_fields: true do
  required(:id, :integer)
  optional(:quantity, :integer)
  optional(:delivery_date, :string)
  optional(:cancel_order, :boolean, default: false)
end
```

Or add the same `drop_nil_fields: true` option when you use the Pharams module up at the top of your controller. This would in turn apply that configuration to all pharams calls. As a note, setting it at the individual endpoint level overrides controller wide configuration.

pharams

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