Usama Tahir
Usama Tahir

Reputation: 1797

validate nested objects using class-validator in nest.js controller

I want to validate body payload using class-validator in a nest.js controller. My currency.dto.ts file is like this:

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

class Data {

  @IsNotEmpty()
  @IsString()
  type: string;

  @IsNotEmpty()
  @IsNumber()
  id: number;
}

export class CurrencyDTO {
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @IsDefined()
  data: Data[];
}

and in my nest.js controller, I use it like this.

  @Post()
  @UseGuards(new AuthTokenGuard())
  @UsePipes(new ValidationPipe())
  addNewCurrency(@Req() req, @Body() data: CurrencyDTO) {
    console.log('data', data);
  }

my validation pipe class is like this:

import {
  PipeTransform,
  Injectable,
  ArgumentMetadata,
  BadRequestException,
  HttpException,
  HttpStatus,
} from '@nestjs/common';
import { validate, IsInstance } from 'class-validator';
import { plainToClass, Exclude } from 'class-transformer';

@Injectable()
export class ValidationPipe implements PipeTransform<any> {
  async transform(value: any, metadata: ArgumentMetadata) {
    if (value instanceof Object && this.isEmpty(value)) {
      throw new HttpException(
        `Validation failed: No Body provided`,
        HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST,
      );
    }
    const { metatype } = metadata;
    if (!metatype || !this.toValidate(metatype)) {
      return value;
    }
    const object = plainToClass(metatype, value);
    const errorsList = await validate(object);
    if (errorsList.length > 0) {
      const errors = [];
      for (const error of errorsList) {
        const errorsObject = error.constraints;
        const { isNotEmpty } = errorsObject;
        if (isNotEmpty) {
          const parameter = isNotEmpty.split(' ')[0];
          errors.push({
            title: `The ${parameter} parameter is required.`,
            parameter: `${parameter}`,
          });
        }
      }
      if (errors.length > 0) {
        throw new HttpException({ errors }, HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
      }
    }
    return value;
  }

  private toValidate(metatype): boolean {
    const types = [String, Boolean, Number, Array, Object];
    return !types.find(type => metatype === type);
  }
  private isEmpty(value: any) {
    if (Object.keys(value).length > 0) {
      return false;
    }
    return true;
  }
}

This validation pipe works fine for all except for nested objects. Any idea what am I doing wrong here? My body payload is like this:

{
"data": [{
    "id": 1,
    "type": "a"
}]
}

Upvotes: 33

Views: 55319

Answers (3)

flav1o
flav1o

Reputation: 33

A bit late to the party but... You can follow the approach from this answer and it will work as expected. I made a custom decorator so that it's possible to use only one line of code instead of two when validating the object:

export function ValidateNestedType(type: () => any) {
  return function (target: object, propertyName: string) {
    ValidateNested({ each: true })(target, propertyName);
    Type(type)(target, propertyName);
  };
}

the usage looks like this:

@InputType()
export class CreateProductInput {
  @ValidateNestedType(() => ProductDetailsInput)
  product: ProductDetailsInput;
  
  ...
}

Upvotes: 0

Xen_mar
Xen_mar

Reputation: 9752

At least in my case, the accepted answer needed some more info. As is, the validation will not run if the key data does not exist on the request. To get full validation try:

@IsDefined()
@IsNotEmptyObject()
@ValidateNested()
@Type(() => CreateOrganizationDto)
@ApiProperty()
organization: CreateOrganizationDto;

Upvotes: 11

Kim Kern
Kim Kern

Reputation: 60557

Try specifying the nested type with @Type:

import { Type } from 'class-transformer';

export class CurrencyDTO {
  @ValidateNested({ each: true })
  @Type(() => Data)
  data: Data[];
}

For a nested type to be validated, it needs to be an instance of a class not just a plain data object. With the @Type decorator you tell class-transformer to instantiate a class for the given property when plainToClass is called in your VaildationPipe.

If you are using the built-in ValidationPipe make sure you have set the option transform: true.

Upvotes: 101

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