Gang, Let''s say I have a search form that takes two pieces of search criteria: for the purposes of this discussion, let''s use ''zip'' and ''radius''. Is there a rails idiom for validating that user-provided input meets some conditions before moving forward with a particular action? For instance, I want to ensure that the user has provided me with a non-null zip and a non-null radius that falls within a given range. As best I can tell - this doesn''t really fall into proper Model validation because this is just form input for a particular search. Surely there''s a more elegant way to handle this outside of: if params[:zip].nil? flash[:foo] = "please provide a zip" redirect_to... end Any suggestions? -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.