Class-validator - validate array of objects

Question

I am using class-validator package with NestJS and I am looking to validate an array of objects that need to have exactly 2 objects with the same layout:

So far I have:

import { IsString, IsNumber } from 'class-validator';

export class AuthParam {
  @IsNumber()
  id: number;

  @IsString()
  type: string;

  @IsString()
  value: string;
}

and

import { IsArray, ValidateNested } from 'class-validator';
import { AuthParam } from './authParam.model';

export class SignIn {
  @IsArray()
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  authParameters: AuthParam[];
}

per @kamilg response (I am able to enforce exacly 2 elements):

import { IsArray, ValidateNested, ArrayMinSize, ArrayMaxSize } from 'class-validator';
import { AuthParam } from './authParam.model';

export class SignInModel {
  @IsArray()
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @ArrayMinSize(2)
  @ArrayMaxSize(2)
  authParameters: AuthParam[];
}

I still can pass an empty array or an array with some other objects not related to AuthParam.

How I should modify it get validation?

Also how I can enforce mandatory 2 elements in the array? MinLength(2) seems to be regarding string... (resolved)

Elviaelvie

github.com/typestack/class-validator/pull/295 Was just published in v0.10.2, so it should help, hopefully! – Norbert

Answer 1

Add @Type(() => AuthParam) to your array and it should be working. Type decorator is required for nested objects(arrays). Your code becomes

import { IsArray, ValidateNested, ArrayMinSize, ArrayMaxSize } from 'class-validator';
import { AuthParam } from './authParam.model';
import { Type } from 'class-transformer';

export class SignInModel {
  @IsArray()
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @ArrayMinSize(2)
  @ArrayMaxSize(2)
  @Type(() => AuthParam)
  authParameters: AuthParam[];
}

Be careful if you are using any exception filter to modify the error reponse. Make sure you understand the structure of the class-validator errors.

Bestiary

Hi, any idea on how to achieve this for an array of numbers in a query param? imagine im trying to validate [www.url.com/path?ids=1,2,3] , where [ids] should be an array of numbers, and nothing else. tried converting your answer, but with no success so far. – Primitivism

Hi, I tried something similar and is working as expected. But I noticed that when the array contains an empty array (as opposed to say the AuthParam obj) it does not throw an error. How can I ensure that the array only contains objects and not arrays? – Globeflower

Trying something similar but it doesn't seem to be working: #73654824 – Trenchant

To answer @Globeflower question, use @IsObject({ each: true }). There is a short example here with the different errors you can get. – Lunde

In case someone runs into the same issue I had, if you're writing unit tests, you might need to import "reflect-metadata" as the first line of your test, otherwise the @Type decorator is going to cause a Reflect.getMetadata() is not a function error – Gangrel

I worked ... but How on earth did I needed to use class-transformer to perform a nested validation with class-validator? 😮 – Headwater

Answer 2

I Know I Am Late But Facing Some Issue With Type, Then Try Another Way To Implement This:

export class AuthParam {
    @IsNumber()
    id: number;
  
    @IsString()
    type: string;
  
    @IsString()
    value: string;
  }

Validation function

@ValidatorConstraint()
export class IsAuthArray implements ValidatorConstraintInterface {
    public async validate(authData: AuthParam[], args: ValidationArguments) {
        return Array.isArray(authData) && authData.reduce((a, b) => a && (typeof b.id === "number") && typeof b.type === "string" && typeof b.field === "string", true);
    }
}

export class SignInModel {
    @IsNotEmpty()
    @IsArray()
    @ArrayMinSize(2)
    @ArrayMaxSize(2)
    @Validate(IsAuthArray, {
        message: "Enter valid value .",
    })
    authParameters: AuthParam[];
  }

Maybe It Will Help Someone 😃

Playhouse

Answer 3

You can use the following:

validator.arrayNotEmpty(array); // Checks if given array is not empty.

validator.arrayMinSize(array, min); // Checks if array's length is at least `min` number.

(https://github.com/typestack/class-validator#manual-validation)

You may want to consider writing custom validator which would better reflect the business requirement you have.

Norbert

This is nicely resolve number of elements question - thank you. Validation of objects inside array still valid – Elviaelvie

Answer 4

const param1: AuthParam = Object.assign(new AuthParam(), {
  id: 1,
  type: 'grant',
  value: 'password'
})

const param2: AuthParam = Object.assign(new AuthParam(), {
  id: 1,
  type: 4,
  value: 'password'
})

const signInTest = new SignInModel()
signInTest.authParameters = [param1, param2]

validate(signInTest).then(e => {
  console.log(e[0].children[0].children[0])
})

This works correctly, this is:

ValidationError {
  target: AuthParam { id: 1, type: 4, value: 'password' },
  value: 4,
  property: 'type',
  children: [],
  constraints: { isString: 'type must be a string' } }

so I may only assume that object which is being validated, is not an instance of AuthParam

const param2: AuthParam = {
  id: 1,
  type: 4,
  value: 'password'
} as any

as expected, there aren't any decorators on this object (which may be true for Nest.js controllers and nested objects from body/req) - so validation is ignored.

Please check this (tl;dr - @Type decorator form class-transformer)

Norbert

Answer 5

I was able to validate array through this snippet

import { IsArray, ValidateNested} from 'class-validator';

import { Type } from 'class-transformer';




  @IsArray()
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @Type(() => TypeOfEachObject)
  nameOfArray: TypeOfEachObject[];

Monolingual

Answer 6

Without using @Type annotation, following approach also works great:

import { IsString, IsNumber } from 'class-validator';

export class AuthParam {
  @IsNumber()
  id: number;

  @IsString()
  type: string;

  @IsString()
  value: string;

constructor(payload: AuthParam) {
    this.id = payload.id;
    this.type = payload.type;
    this.value = payload.value;
  }
}

and

import { IsArray, ValidateNested, ArrayMinSize, ArrayMaxSize } from 'class-validator';
import { AuthParam } from './authParam.model';

export class SignInModel {
  @IsArray()
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @ArrayMinSize(2)
  @ArrayMaxSize(2)
  authParameters: AuthParam[];
  constructor(payload: SignInModel) {
      if (isArray(payload.authParameters)) {
         const authParameters = payload.authParameters.map(ap => new AuthParam(ap));
         this.authParameters = authParameters;
      } else {
         this.authParameters = payload.authParameters;
      }
   }
}

Epidaurus