Rails - Aug 2006 - validates_length_of with char field

I am new to ruby/rails and am having a problem with validates_length_of. 
It seems to work fine on a varchar field, but when I try it on a char 
field the extra characters are silently truncated and the message 
appears that the record was successfully updated.

How can I get my app to produce my error message instead? I''ve tried 
various variations, but here''s one of my tries:

validates_length_of :State, :minimum => 2, :maximum => 2,
   :message => "Use the two-letter state abbreviation"

I know I can use a drop-down list instead (that''s my next exercise) but
I''d like to know how to do this for other char fields as well. Or is
the
char issue a red herring and something else is wrong with my code?

Thanks,
Shauna

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

don''t know if using :minimum and :maximum would cause any problems,
but you could just use:

validates_length_of :state, :is => 2, :message => "Use the two-letter
state abbreviation"

or even

validates_format_of :state, :with => /^[a-zA-Z]{2}$/

that way you know you are getting a 2 character field that only
contains A-Z and or a-z characters.

Chris

On 8/17/06, Shauna <slhaines@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am new to ruby/rails and am having a problem with validates_length_of.
> It seems to work fine on a varchar field, but when I try it on a char
> field the extra characters are silently truncated and the message
> appears that the record was successfully updated.
>
> How can I get my app to produce my error message instead? I''ve
tried
> various variations, but here''s one of my tries:
>
> validates_length_of :State, :minimum => 2, :maximum => 2,
>    :message => "Use the two-letter state abbreviation"
>
> I know I can use a drop-down list instead (that''s my next
exercise) but
> I''d like to know how to do this for other char fields as well. Or
is the
> char issue a red herring and something else is wrong with my code?
>
> Thanks,
> Shauna
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

Thanks, Chris. They both worked!

My problem was that I was adding the validates_length_of :State line to 
the wrong version of my app. But for other newbies - Rails still didn''t
like the :minimum, :maximum combo and replied "too many arguments".

Shauna

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