Editor .NET - Dependent Field Nightmare

washuit-iamm

My use-case is very simple, but I have to write some very heavy .NET code to do a "dependent field" validation on my server-side.

The usecase is: If IsVirtual boolean is provided and true, they MUST set VirtualEnvironmentId. If its provided and false, they MUST NOT set VirtualEnvironmentId or provide null/empty.

            var response = new Editor(db, "InventoryServer", "Id")
                .Validator((editor, action, data) => {
                    if (action == DtRequest.RequestTypes.EditorEdit ||
                        action == DtRequest.RequestTypes.EditorCreate)
                    {
                        foreach (var entity in data.Data)
                        {
                            if (data.Data is null)
                            {
                                return null;
                            }

                            var entityData = (Dictionary<string, object>)entity.Value;

                            if (entityData.TryGetValue("InventoryServer", out var inventoryServerDictionary))
                            {
                                if (inventoryServerDictionary is Dictionary<string, object> inventoryServer)
                                {
                                    inventoryServer.TryGetValue("IsVirtual", out var isVirtual);

                                    // TryParse will return false if isVirtual is null or empty.
                                    _ = bool.TryParse(isVirtual?.ToString(), out var isVirtualBoolean);

                                    var virtualEnvironment = inventoryServer.TryGetValue("VirtualEnvironmentId", out var virtualEnvironmentId);

                                    // VirtualEnvironmentId is required when IsVirtual is true.
                                    // virtualEnvironmentId will be an empty string from Editor if it's not set.
                                    if (isVirtualBoolean && string.IsNullOrEmpty(virtualEnvironmentId?.ToString()))
                                    {
                                        return "VirtualEnvironmentId is required when IsVirtual is true";
                                    }

                                    // VirtualEnvironmentId must be sent to us, and must be empty when IsVirtual is false.
                                    if (!isVirtualBoolean && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(virtualEnvironmentId?.ToString()))
                                    {
                                        return "VirtualEnvironmentId must be empty when IsVirtual is false";
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    return null;
                })
       .Field(new Field("InventoryServer.IsVirtual")
       .Validator(Validation.Boolean()))
       .Field(new Field("InventoryServer.VirtualEnvironmentId")
           .SetFormatter(Format.IfEmpty(null))
           .Options(new Options()
               .Table("VirtualEnvironment")
                        .Value("Id")
                        .Label("Name")
               )
        )
       .LeftJoin("VirtualEnvironment", "VirtualEnvironment.Id", "=", "InventoryServer.VirtualEnvironmentId")
                .TryCatch(false)
                .Debug(true)
                .Process(Request)
                .Data();

I would like to know, is there an easier way to do this? Is there a way we could get Validator.IsDependentOn() or something to solve that?

I have to cast and fight my way through many dictionaries and null checks to end up with working code.

allan

At the moment, there isn't a better way I'm afraid. An IsDependentOn method or requiresField() or something like that is a nice idea though. I'll look into that - thank you for the suggestion.

Allan