Composition Conventions

We defined early on that all validators must be functions in Strickland. This is technically true, but because every and objectProps are used so frequently to validate arrays of validators and object properties, composition conventions are built into Strickland's validate function to automatically use every and objectProps.

If a validator is not a function, but it is instead an array, it is assumed to be an array of validator functions. This array will be wrapped with every.

If a validator is an object, it is assumed to be an object defining validators for object props. This object will be wrapped with objectProps.

We can rewrite the example for validating a person's name and address more naturally.

import validate, {arrayElements, required, length, range} from 'strickland';
​
const personValidator = [
    required(),
    {
        name: [required(), length(5, 40)],
        addresses: [required(), arrayElements([
            required(),
            {
                street: [
                    required(),
                    {
                        number: [required(), range(1, 99999)],
                        name: [required(), length(2, 40)]
                    }
                ],
                city: required(),
                state: [required(), length(2, 2)]
            }
        ])]
    }
];
​
const person = {
    name: 'Stanford Strickland',
    address: {
        city: 'Hill Valley',
        state: 'CA'
    }
};
​
const result = validate(personValidator, person);
​
// Result would be invalid because
// address does not have a street

There may be times when you do need to explicitly use every and objectProps though. With the object and array conventions, there is no way to pass validator props in that would apply at the object-level or to all validators within the array. But it is quite easy to reintroduce the objectProps or every wrapper and pass props in after the object or array as seen previously.