Rails - Feb 2006 - confusion with validates_inclusion_of

It appears that if your trying to use validates_inclusion_of for a 
string value allow_nil wont work. For example, if I have an attribute 
:year which is stored as a varchar then:

     validates_inclusion_of :year, :in =>
"1980"..Time.now.year.to_s,
allow_nil=>true

will successfully validate the range but will not allow an empty input 
field to be submitted. However, if :year is stored as an integer then:

     validates_inclusion_of :year, :in => 1980..Time.now.year, 
allow_nil=>true

will validate the range correctly and allow an empty input field to be 
submitted.

I guess I''m posting because I think I understand what it''s
doing but I
would like a deeper understanding of why this works this way. Can anyone 
shed some light for me?

William

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

If year is a varchar, and the input field is left empty, is the variable 
nil or "" ?  If it;s "" then allow_nil won''t
matter.

A.

William LeFevre wrote:
> It appears that if your trying to use validates_inclusion_of for a 
> string value allow_nil wont work. For example, if I have an attribute 
> :year which is stored as a varchar then:
> 
>      validates_inclusion_of :year, :in =>
"1980"..Time.now.year.to_s,
> allow_nil=>true
> 
> will successfully validate the range but will not allow an empty input 
> field to be submitted. However, if :year is stored as an integer then:
> 
>      validates_inclusion_of :year, :in => 1980..Time.now.year, 
> allow_nil=>true
> 
> will validate the range correctly and allow an empty input field to be 
> submitted.
> 
> I guess I''m posting because I think I understand what
it''s doing but I
> would like a deeper understanding of why this works this way. Can anyone 
> shed some light for me?
> 
> William

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

That was my assumption but it was late so I didn''t turn on breakpointer
and dig deeper.

Alan Francis wrote:
> If year is a varchar, and the input field is left empty, is the variable 
> nil or "" ?  If it;s "" then allow_nil won''t
matter.
> 
> A.
> 


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