path: root/activerecord/lib/active_record/validations/uniqueness.rb

require 'active_support/core_ext/array/wrap'

module ActiveRecord
  module Validations
    class UniquenessValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
      def initialize(options)
        super(options.reverse_merge(:case_sensitive => true))
      end

      # Unfortunately, we have to tie Uniqueness validators to a class.
      def setup(klass)
        @klass = klass
      end

      def validate_each(record, attribute, value)
        finder_class = find_finder_class_for(record)
        table = finder_class.unscoped

        table_name   = record.class.quoted_table_name
        sql, params  = mount_sql_and_params(finder_class, table_name, attribute, value)

        relation = table.where(sql, *params)

        Array.wrap(options[:scope]).each do |scope_item|
          scope_value = record.send(scope_item)
          relation = relation.where(scope_item => scope_value)
        end

        unless record.new_record?
          # TODO : This should be in Arel
          relation = relation.where("#{record.class.quoted_table_name}.#{record.class.primary_key} <> ?", record.send(:id))
        end

        if relation.exists?
          record.errors.add(attribute, :taken, :default => options[:message], :value => value)
        end
      end

    protected

      # The check for an existing value should be run from a class that
      # isn't abstract. This means working down from the current class
      # (self), to the first non-abstract class. Since classes don't know
      # their subclasses, we have to build the hierarchy between self and
      # the record's class.
      def find_finder_class_for(record) #:nodoc:
        class_hierarchy = [record.class]

        while class_hierarchy.first != @klass
          class_hierarchy.insert(0, class_hierarchy.first.superclass)
        end

        class_hierarchy.detect { |klass| !klass.abstract_class? }
      end

      def mount_sql_and_params(klass, table_name, attribute, value) #:nodoc:
        column = klass.columns_hash[attribute.to_s]

        operator = if value.nil?
          "IS ?"
        elsif column.text?
          value = column.limit ? value.to_s.mb_chars[0, column.limit] : value.to_s
          "#{klass.connection.case_sensitive_equality_operator} ?"
        else
          "= ?"
        end

        sql_attribute = "#{table_name}.#{klass.connection.quote_column_name(attribute)}"

        if value.nil? || (options[:case_sensitive] || !column.text?)
          sql = "#{sql_attribute} #{operator}"
        else
          sql = "LOWER(#{sql_attribute}) = LOWER(?)"
        end

        [sql, [value]]
      end
    end

    module ClassMethods
      # Validates whether the value of the specified attributes are unique across the system. Useful for making sure that only one user
      # can be named "davidhh".
      #
      #   class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
      #     validates_uniqueness_of :user_name, :scope => :account_id
      #   end
      #
      # It can also validate whether the value of the specified attributes are unique based on multiple scope parameters.  For example,
      # making sure that a teacher can only be on the schedule once per semester for a particular class.
      #
      #   class TeacherSchedule < ActiveRecord::Base
      #     validates_uniqueness_of :teacher_id, :scope => [:semester_id, :class_id]
      #   end
      #
      # When the record is created, a check is performed to make sure that no record exists in the database with the given value for the specified
      # attribute (that maps to a column). When the record is updated, the same check is made but disregarding the record itself.
      #
      # Configuration options:
      # * <tt>:message</tt> - Specifies a custom error message (default is: "has already been taken").
      # * <tt>:scope</tt> - One or more columns by which to limit the scope of the uniqueness constraint.
      # * <tt>:case_sensitive</tt> - Looks for an exact match. Ignored by non-text columns (+true+ by default).
      # * <tt>:allow_nil</tt> - If set to true, skips this validation if the attribute is +nil+ (default is +false+).
      # * <tt>:allow_blank</tt> - If set to true, skips this validation if the attribute is blank (default is +false+).
      # * <tt>:if</tt> - Specifies a method, proc or string to call to determine if the validation should
      #   occur (e.g. <tt>:if => :allow_validation</tt>, or <tt>:if => Proc.new { |user| user.signup_step > 2 }</tt>).  The
      #   method, proc or string should return or evaluate to a true or false value.
      # * <tt>:unless</tt> - Specifies a method, proc or string to call to determine if the validation should
      #   not occur (e.g. <tt>:unless => :skip_validation</tt>, or <tt>:unless => Proc.new { |user| user.signup_step <= 2 }</tt>).  The
      #   method, proc or string should return or evaluate to a true or false value.
      #
      # === Concurrency and integrity
      #
      # Using this validation method in conjunction with ActiveRecord::Base#save
      # does not guarantee the absence of duplicate record insertions, because
      # uniqueness checks on the application level are inherently prone to race
      # conditions. For example, suppose that two users try to post a Comment at
      # the same time, and a Comment's title must be unique. At the database-level,
      # the actions performed by these users could be interleaved in the following manner:
      #
      #               User 1                 |               User 2
      #  ------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
      #  # User 1 checks whether there's     |
      #  # already a comment with the title  |
      #  # 'My Post'. This is not the case.  |
      #  SELECT * FROM comments              |
      #  WHERE title = 'My Post'             |
      #                                      |
      #                                      | # User 2 does the same thing and also
      #                                      | # infers that his title is unique.
      #                                      | SELECT * FROM comments
      #                                      | WHERE title = 'My Post'
      #                                      |
      #  # User 1 inserts his comment.       |
      #  INSERT INTO comments                |
      #  (title, content) VALUES             |
      #  ('My Post', 'hi!')                  |
      #                                      |
      #                                      | # User 2 does the same thing.
      #                                      | INSERT INTO comments
      #                                      | (title, content) VALUES
      #                                      | ('My Post', 'hello!')
      #                                      |
      #                                      | # ^^^^^^
      #                                      | # Boom! We now have a duplicate
      #                                      | # title!
      #
      # This could even happen if you use transactions with the 'serializable'
      # isolation level. There are several ways to get around this problem:
      #
      # - By locking the database table before validating, and unlocking it after
      #   saving. However, table locking is very expensive, and thus not
      #   recommended.
      # - By locking a lock file before validating, and unlocking it after saving.
      #   This does not work if you've scaled your Rails application across
      #   multiple web servers (because they cannot share lock files, or cannot
      #   do that efficiently), and thus not recommended.
      # - Creating a unique index on the field, by using
      #   ActiveRecord::ConnectionAdapters::SchemaStatements#add_index. In the
      #   rare case that a race condition occurs, the database will guarantee
      #   the field's uniqueness.
      #   
      #   When the database catches such a duplicate insertion,
      #   ActiveRecord::Base#save will raise an ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid
      #   exception. You can either choose to let this error propagate (which
      #   will result in the default Rails exception page being shown), or you
      #   can catch it and restart the transaction (e.g. by telling the user
      #   that the title already exists, and asking him to re-enter the title).
      #   This technique is also known as optimistic concurrency control:
      #   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimistic_concurrency_control
      #   
      #   Active Record currently provides no way to distinguish unique
      #   index constraint errors from other types of database errors, so you
      #   will have to parse the (database-specific) exception message to detect
      #   such a case.
      #
      def validates_uniqueness_of(*attr_names)
        validates_with UniquenessValidator, _merge_attributes(attr_names)
      end
    end
  end
end