validates_associated(*attr_names) public

Validates whether the associated object or objects are all valid. Works with any kind of association.

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :pages
  belongs_to :library

  validates_associated :pages, :library
end

WARNING: This validation must not be used on both ends of an association. Doing so will lead to a circular dependency and cause infinite recursion.

NOTE: This validation will not fail if the association hasn’t been assigned. If you want to ensure that the association is both present and guaranteed to be valid, you also need to use {validates_presence_of}[rdoc-ref:Validations::ClassMethods#validates_presence_of].

Configuration options:

  • :message - A custom error message (default is: “is invalid”).

  • :on - Specifies the contexts where this validation is active. Runs in all validation contexts by default nil. You can pass a symbol or an array of symbols. (e.g. on: :create or on: :custom_validation_context or on: [:create, :custom_validation_context])

  • :if - Specifies a method, proc or string to call to determine if the validation should occur (e.g. if: :allow_validation, or if: Proc.new { |user| user.signup_step > 2 }). The method, proc or string should return or evaluate to a true or false value.

  • :unless - Specifies a method, proc or string to call to determine if the validation should not occur (e.g. unless: :skip_validation, or unless: Proc.new { |user| user.signup_step <= 2 }). The method, proc or string should return or evaluate to a true or false value.

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August 30, 2011 - (>= v3.0.0)
1 thank

Does not work for has_one associations

If you are using this to validate that a has_one association has been made with another object this will not work, as the test used in the AssociatedValidator #validates_each method tests for nil and then ignores this object.

To test for association with a has_one association you can use the following code:

validate do
  [:teacher, :book].each do |attr|
    errors.add(attr, "is required") if self.send(attr).nil?
  end
end
July 11, 2014
1 thank

Use this for has_one associations instead

I have confirmed that validates_associated doesn’t work with has_one associations, like @amasses said.

This however worked for me, so I recommend to use validates on the has_one association directly, like this:

class Book < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_one :cover, validates: true
end