Validation Errors

Overviewanchor

Validation errors will be returned on error result objects when we can't process the API call because parameters are invalid. Validation errors contain the following:

  • code - for programmatic consumption
  • message - for human consumption
  • attribute - the parameter that caused an error

Hierarchyanchor

Errors are returned in a hierarchy that matches the parameter hierarchy. For example, when creating a customer with a credit card and billing address, the credit card is nested under customer, and the billing address under credit card.

  1. Ruby
result = gateway.customer.create(
  :email => "invalid_email",
  :credit_card => {
    :number => "not_numeric",
    :billing_address => {
      :country_name => "not_a_valid_country"
    }
  }
)

You can get errors at all levels, errors at a specific level, or errors at a specific level on a specific attribute.

All errors on all levelsanchor

To get the errors on all levels, call each on result.errors. You can also check result.errors.size for the number of total errors.

  1. Ruby
result.errors.each do |error|
  puts error.code
  puts error.message
end

Errors at specific levelsanchor

To get errors at a specific level, use the for method. The attribute will indicate which attribute is invalid.

  1. Ruby
result.errors.for(:customer).each do |error|
  puts error.attribute
  puts error.code
  puts error.message
end

result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).each do |error|
  puts error.attribute
  puts error.code
  puts error.message
end

result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).for(:billing_address).each do |error|
  puts error.attribute
  puts error.code
  puts error.message
end

From a specific level, you can also get the number of errors at that level using size.

  1. Ruby
# number of errors on customer
result.errors.for(:customer).size

# number of errors on credit card
result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).size

# number of errors on billing address
result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).for(:billing_address).size

Errors on specific attributeanchor

You can also get errors at a specific level on a specific attribute. This is useful if you want to display error messages inline in your forms.

  1. ruby
result.errors.for(:customer).on(:email)
result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).on(:number)
result.errors.for(:customer).for(:credit_card).for(:billing_address).on(:country_name)

Base errorsanchor

Sometimes validation errors aren't caused by a specific input parameter. For example, canceled subscriptions can't be updated. For these validation errors, we use an attribute named "base" for the validation error.

  1. Ruby
result = gateway.subscription.update(
  "the_subscription_id",
  :price => "10.00"
)
result.errors.for(:subscription).on(:base).each do |error|
  puts error.message
end

Errors on add-ons/discountsanchor

It is possible to add, update and remove many add-ons and discounts at once. If any of the add-ons or discounts contain errors, these errors will be indexed based on the order of the add-on or discount in the request (beginning at 0).

  1. Ruby
result = gateway.subscription.create(
  :payment_method_token => "the_payment_method_token",
  :plan_id => "the_plan_id",
  :add_ons => {
    :update => [
      {
        :existing_id => "add_on_id_1",
        :amount => "invalid"
      },
      {
        :existing_id => "add_on_id_2",
        :quantity => -10,
      }
    ]
  }
)

result.errors.for(:subscription).for(:add_ons).for(:update).for_index(0).on(:amount).each do |error|
  puts error.message
end

result.errors.for(:subscription).for(:add_ons).for(:update).for_index(1).on(:quantity).each do |error|
  puts error.message
end

See also