StripAttributes
StripAttributes is an ActiveModel extension that automatically strips all
attributes of leading and trailing whitespace before validation. If the
attribute is blank, it strips the value to nil
by default.
It works by adding a before_validation hook to the record. By default, all
attributes are stripped of whitespace, but :only
and :except
options can be used to limit which attributes are stripped. Both options accept
a single attribute (:only => :field
) or arrays of attributes (:except =>
[:field1, :field2, :field3]
).
How You Can Help
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Installation
Include the gem in your Gemfile:
gem "strip_attributes"
Examples
Default Behavior
class DrunkPokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes
end
Using except
# all attributes will be stripped except :boxers
class SoberPokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes :except => :boxers
end
Using only
# only :shoe, :sock, and :glove attributes will be stripped
class ConservativePokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes :only => [:shoe, :sock, :glove]
end
Using allow_empty
# Empty attributes will not be converted to nil
class BrokePokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes :allow_empty => true
end
Using collapse_spaces
# Sequential spaces in attributes will be collapsed to one space
class EloquentPokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes :collapse_spaces => true
end
Using replace_newlines
# Newlines in attributes will be replaced with a space
class EloquentPokerPlayer < ActiveRecord::Base
strip_attributes :replace_newlines => true
end
Using regex
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
# Strip off characters defined by RegEx
strip_attributes :only => [:first_name, :last_name], :regex => /[^[:alpha:]\s]/
# Strip off non-integers
strip_attributes :only => [:phone], :regex => /[^0-9]/
# Strip off all spaces and keep only alphabetic and numeric characters
strip_attributes :only => [:nick_name], :regex => /[^[:alnum:]\S]/
end
Usage Patterns
Other ORMs implementing ActiveModel
It also works on other ActiveModel classes, such as Mongoid documents:
class User
include Mongoid::Document
strip_attributes :only => :email
end
Using it with ActiveAttr
class Person
include ActiveAttr::Model
include ActiveModel::Validations::Callbacks
attribute :name
attribute :email
strip_attributes
end
Using it directly
# where record is an ActiveModel instance
StripAttributes.strip(record, :collapse_spaces => true)
# works directly on Strings too
StripAttributes.strip(" foo \t") #=> "foo"
StripAttributes.strip(" foo bar", :collapse_spaces => true) #=> "foo bar"
Testing
StripAttributes provides an RSpec/Shoulda-compatible matcher for easier testing of attribute assignment. You can use this with RSpec, Shoulda, Minitest-MatchersVaccine (preferred), or Minitest-Matchers.
Setup spec_helper.rb
or test_helper.rb
To initialize RSpec, add this to your spec_helper.rb
:
require "strip_attributes/matchers"
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.include StripAttributes::Matchers
end
To initialize Shoulda (with test-unit), add this to your test_helper.rb
:
require "strip_attributes/matchers"
class Test::Unit::TestCase
extend StripAttributes::Matchers
end
OR if in a Rails environment, you might prefer this:
require "strip_attributes/matchers"
class ActiveSupport::TestCase
extend StripAttributes::Matchers
end
To initialize Minitest-MatchersVaccine, add this to your test_helper.rb
:
require "strip_attributes/matchers_vaccine"
class MiniTest::Spec
include StripAttributes::Matchers
end
OR if in a Rails environment, you might prefer this:
require "strip_attributes/matchers_vaccine"
class ActiveSupport::TestCase
include StripAttributes::Matchers
end
To initialize Minitest-Matchers, add this to your test_helper.rb
:
require "strip_attributes/matchers"
class MiniTest::Spec
include StripAttributes::Matchers
end
Writing Tests
RSpec:
describe User do
it { is_expected.to strip_attribute(:name).collapse_spaces }
it { is_expected.to strip_attribute :email }
it { is_expected.not_to strip_attribute :password }
end
Shoulda (with test-unit):
class UserTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
should strip_attribute(:name).collapse_spaces
should strip_attribute :email
should_not strip_attribute :password
end
Minitest-MatchersVaccine:
describe User do
subject { User.new }
it "should strip attributes" do
must strip_attribute(:name).collapse_spaces
must strip_attribute :email
wont strip_attribute :password
end
end
Minitest-Matchers:
describe User do
subject { User.new }
must { strip_attribute(:name).collapse_spaces }
must { strip_attribute :email }
wont { strip_attribute :password }
end
Support
Submit suggestions or feature requests as a GitHub Issue or Pull Request (preferred). If you send a pull request, remember to update the corresponding unit tests. In fact, I prefer new features to be submitted in the form of new unit tests.
Credits
The idea was originally triggered by the information at the (now defunct) Rails Wiki but was modified from the original to include more idiomatic ruby and rails support.
Versioning
Semantic Versioning 2.0 as defined at http://semver.org.
License
Copyright (c) 2007-2015 Ryan McGeary released under the MIT license