on an ActiveModel Object, how do I check uniqueness?

Question

In Bryan Helmkamp\'s excellent blog post called \"7 Patterns to Refactor Fat ActiveRecord Models\", he mentions using Form Objects to abstract away multi-layer

Answer 1

Creating a custom validator may be overkill if this just happens to be a one-off requirement.

A simplified approach...

class Signup

  (...)

  validates :email, presence: true
  validates :account_name, length: {within: 3..40}, format: { with: /^([a-z0-9\-]+)$/i }

  # Call a private method to verify uniqueness

  validate :account_name_is_unique


  def persisted?
    false
  end

  def save
    if valid?
      persist!
      true
    else
      false
    end
  end

  private

  # Refactor as needed

  def account_name_is_unique
    if Account.where(name: account_name).exists?
      errors.add(:account_name, 'Account name is taken')
    end
  end

  def persist!
    @account = Account.create!(name: account_name)
    @user = @account.users.create!(name: name, email: email)
  end
end