CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ruby-on-railsruby-on-rails-3
Jason Swett
Jason Swett

Reputation: 45134

Error messages always include attribute name

I have the following validation error messages coming up when I try to submit a blank form:

Start time time Looks like you forgot the appointment start time.
Start time time Sorry, we can't understand "" as a time.
Start time ymd Please choose a date for the appointment.
Start time ymd Sorry, we can't understand "" as a date.
Stylist services Please choose at least one service.

These messages are for the following attributes:

start_time_time
start_time_time
start_time_ymd
start_time_ymd
stylist_services

I included the attribute names so you could plainly see which part of the error message is the attribute name.

How do I remove the attribute names from the error messages?

Upvotes: 9

Views: 12106

Answers (4)

KenB
KenB

Reputation: 6757

In rails 3.2.6, you can supress the inclusion of the attribute name by setting errors.format in a locale file (e.g., config/locales/en.yml):

en:
  errors:
    format: "%{message}"

Otherwise, the default format is "%{attribute} %{message}".

Upvotes: 27

DemitryT
DemitryT

Reputation: 391

I did almost the same thing as Brandon.

First, I wrote a helper function for the object that the errors will render for.

#Remove unnecessary attribute names in error messages
def exclude_att(attribute, error_msg)
  if attribute.to_s == "Put attribute name you don't want to see here"
    error_msg
  else
    attribute.to_s.humanize + " " + error_msg
  end
end

Then, in the view that has the form being validated, I did: (Note: this is HAML code not HTML, but the tags are still the same so you can clearly see what I'm doing)

%h3= "#{pluralize(@user.errors.count, 'error')} prohibited this user from being saved:"
  %ul
   - @user.errors.each do |att, error|
     %li= exclude_att(att, error)

That did it for me, no gems or third-party plugins.

-Demitry

Upvotes: 0

Michelle Tilley
Michelle Tilley

Reputation: 159115

It's common to loop over object.full_messages to output each full message:

<% if object.errors.any? %>
  <h2>Errors</h2>
  <ul>
  <% object.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %>
    <li><%= msg %></li>
  <% end %>
  </ul>
<% end %>

<h2>Errors</h2>
<ul>
  <li>Start time time Looks like you forgot the appointment start time.</li>
  <li>Start time time Sorry, we can't understand "" as a time.</li>
  <li>Start time ymd Please choose a date for the appointment.</li>
  <li>Start time ymd Sorry, we can't understand "" as a date.</li>
  <li>Stylist services Please choose at least one service.</li>
</ul>

But a "full" message consists of the localized field name followed by the message (as you've seen; this is because the messages are usually things like "can't be blank"). If you just want the actual error message minus the field name, use the built-in each iterator instead:

<% if object.errors.any? %>
  <h2>Errors</h2>
  <ul>
  <% object.errors.each do |field, msg| %>
    <li><%= msg %></li>
  <% end %>
  </ul>
<% end %>

<h2>Errors</h2>
<ul>
  <li>Looks like you forgot the appointment start time.</li>
  <li>Sorry, we can't understand "" as a time.</li>
  <li>Please choose a date for the appointment.</li>
  <li>Sorry, we can't understand "" as a date.</li>
  <li>Please choose at least one service.</li>
</ul>

Upvotes: 23

Zabba
Zabba

Reputation: 65497

You could use the i18n route to change the display name of the attribute.

config/locales/en.yml:

en:
  activerecord:
    attributes:
      somemodel:
        start_time_time: My Start Time Text  #renamed text
        stylist_services: "" #hidden txet

Upvotes: 18

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