Application of Criteria for Zod Depending on Data Stored in Array Field

Question

Application of Criteria for Zod Depending on Data Stored in Array Field

I am currently working on an Express route that requires validation of the request body using Zod. The challenge arises when I need to conditionally require certain fields based on the values in the "channels" field, which is an array of enums. While my current implementation works, I find it a bit verbose and would appreciate any suggestions for a more concise approach. Despite exploring options like discriminated union, I have not found a solution that efficiently handles arrays of values.

Here is the logic:

The "userId" and "channels" fields are always mandatory.
If "channels" includes "EMAIL", then email-related fields should also be required.
If "channels" includes "SMS", then sms-related fields should be required.
If "channels" includes "FEED", then feed-related fields should be required.

This is how I currently handle it:

const schema = z.object({
  userId: z.string(),
  channels: z.array(z.enum(["EMAIL", "SMS", "FEED"])).nonempty(),
});

// Definition of emailSchema, smsSchema, feedSchema...

const result = schema.safeParse(req.body);

if (!result.success) {
  // Error handling...
}

let channelsSchema = z.object({});

if (result.data.channels.includes("EMAIL"))
  channelsSchema = channelsSchema.merge(emailSchema);
if (result.data.channels.includes("SMS"))
  channelsSchema = channelsSchema.merge(smsSchema);
if (result.data.channels.includes("FEED"))
  channelsSchema = channelsSchema.merge(feedSchema);

const channelsResult = channelsSchema.safeParse(req.body);

if (!channelsResult.success) {
  // More error handling...
}

// Processing the validated data...

I have come across examples involving refine and superRefine, but these seem even more complex. Any insights or alternative solutions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your help!

javascript typescript zod

Answer 1

Answer №1

Approach #1: Utilizing Unions

One approach is to employ zod.refine in order to ensure that each type of message contains the correct channel flag, followed by using zod.union to generate a union of all message types. Zod will make an attempt to parse each schema within the union and will only raise an error if there are no matches found.

For instance:

const emailSchema = z.object({
  userId: z.string(),
  channels: z.array(z.string()).refine((val) => val.includes('EMAIL')),
  // More schema properties for emails
});

// Define schemas for SMS and feeds as well

const schema = z.union([
  emailSchema,
  smsSchema,
  feedSchema,
]);

Approach #2: Custom Schema Selection

Alternatively, you could create custom logic to determine the appropriate schema based on the values present in the channels array.

const messageSchema = z.object({
  userId: z.string(),
  channels: z.array(z.string()),
});

// Extend messageSchema to include specific properties for emails, SMS, and feeds 

function validateMessage(data: object) {
  const message = messageSchema.parse(data);
  
  if (message.channels.includes('EMAIL')) return emailSchema.parse(data);
  // Logic for selecting the right schema based on channel type
}

Comments

It's worth noting that using an array as the field to indicate the shape of the object might seem unconventional. Typically, a number or string field is utilized for denoting an object's type to simplify the design.

Answer 2

Approach #1: Utilizing Unions

One approach is to employ zod.refine in order to ensure that each type of message contains the correct channel flag, followed by using zod.union to generate a union of all message types. Zod will make an attempt to parse each schema within the union and will only raise an error if there are no matches found.

For instance:

const emailSchema = z.object({
  userId: z.string(),
  channels: z.array(z.string()).refine((val) => val.includes('EMAIL')),
  // More schema properties for emails
});

// Define schemas for SMS and feeds as well

const schema = z.union([
  emailSchema,
  smsSchema,
  feedSchema,
]);

Approach #2: Custom Schema Selection

Alternatively, you could create custom logic to determine the appropriate schema based on the values present in the channels array.

const messageSchema = z.object({
  userId: z.string(),
  channels: z.array(z.string()),
});

// Extend messageSchema to include specific properties for emails, SMS, and feeds 

function validateMessage(data: object) {
  const message = messageSchema.parse(data);
  
  if (message.channels.includes('EMAIL')) return emailSchema.parse(data);
  // Logic for selecting the right schema based on channel type
}

Comments

It's worth noting that using an array as the field to indicate the shape of the object might seem unconventional. Typically, a number or string field is utilized for denoting an object's type to simplify the design.

Application of Criteria for Zod Depending on Data Stored in Array Field

Answer №1

Approach #1: Utilizing Unions

Approach #2: Custom Schema Selection

Comments

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