Rails/PostgreSQL: Adding character limit to text

Question

I want to implement a character limit to a data value on my PostgreSQL database for my Ruby on Rails application. Currently my database table looks like this:

create_table "applications", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.string   "name"
    t.string   "gender"
    t.date     "date_of_birth"
    t.string   "gpa"
    t.text     "essay"
    t.datetime "created_at",    null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",    null: false
end

I want to change it so the "essay" only allows 10000 characters. From my limited understanding of PostgreSQL, text is unlimited by default whereas string is for 255 characters or less. I thought about implementing a Javascript conditional to not let the user hit the submission button in the client if the text is over 1,000 characters, but of course a tech savvy user could change that. What would be the most optimal way to do this?

Doesn't really matter, but did you mean 10000 or 1000?

Dave Schweisguth
– Dave Schweisguth

2016-05-09 12:06:06 +00:00
Commented May 9, 2016 at 12:06 — Dave Schweisguth
– Dave Schweisguth, Commented May 9, 2016 at 12:06

coderVishal · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-09 15:22:22Z

1

Use rails model validations - validates_length_of.

On the rails end you can add this in application.rb file

validates_length_of :essay, :maximum => 1000

This will ensure that max size is not exceded. Also keep the javascript validation, since its helpful for all users except the malicious once.

Also I recommend you to change the table name from applications. You can get easily confused

edited May 9, 2016 at 15:22

answered May 9, 2016 at 12:40

coderVishal

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1 Comment

Sebastián Palma Over a year ago

Model validations and database constraints are not interchangeable. Model validations can easily be by-passed if you use the proper method.

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