Active Record Validations

Active Record includes the majority of its validations from ActiveModel::Validations all of which accept the :on argument to define the context where the validations are active. Active Record will always supply either the context of :create or :update dependent on whether the model is a new_record?.

Namespace
Methods
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S
V
Included Modules
Instance Public methods
save(options={})

The validation process on save can be skipped by passing :validate => false. The regular #save method is replaced with this when the validations module is mixed in, which it is by default.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb, line 49
def save(options={})
  perform_validations(options) ? super : false
end
save!(options={})

Attempts to save the record just like #save but will raise a RecordInvalid exception instead of returning false if the record is not valid.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb, line 55
def save!(options={})
  perform_validations(options) ? super : raise(RecordInvalid.new(self))
end
valid?(context = nil)

Runs all the validations within the specified context. Returns true if no errors are found, false otherwise.

If the argument is false (default is nil), the context is set to :create if new_record? is true, and to :update if it is not.

Validations with no :on option will run no matter the context. Validations with some :on option will only run in the specified context.

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb, line 67
def valid?(context = nil)
  context ||= (new_record? ? :create : :update)
  output = super(context)
  errors.empty? && output
end
Instance Protected methods
perform_validations(options={})

Source: show | on GitHub 

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/validations.rb, line 75
def perform_validations(options={})
  perform_validation = options[:validate] != false
  perform_validation ? valid?(options[:context]) : true
end