joi

What is joi?

The Joi package is a powerful schema description language and data validator for JavaScript. It allows developers to create blueprints or schemas for JavaScript objects to ensure validation of key information. It is commonly used for validating data, such as configuration objects, request data in web applications, and more.

What are joi's main functionalities?

Object Schema Validation

This feature allows you to define a schema for an object, specifying the expected type of each property, and then validate data against this schema. The code sample demonstrates creating a schema for user data and validating an object against it.

{"const Joi = require('joi');\nconst schema = Joi.object({\n  username: Joi.string().alphanum().min(3).max(30).required(),\n  password: Joi.string().pattern(new RegExp('^[a-zA-Z0-9]{3,30}$')),\n  repeat_password: Joi.ref('password'),\n  access_token: [Joi.string(), Joi.number()],\n  birth_year: Joi.number().integer().min(1900).max(2013),\n  email: Joi.string().email({ minDomainSegments: 2, tlds: { allow: ['com', 'net'] } })\n}).with('username', 'birth_year');\n\nconst dataToValidate = {\n  username: 'abc',\n  birth_year: 1994,\n  email: '[e-mail]'\n};\n\nconst result = schema.validate(dataToValidate);\nconsole.log(result);"}

Type Casting

Joi can cast values to other types as part of the validation process. In this example, a string representing a number is cast to an actual number, and a string 'TRUE' is cast to a boolean true.

{"const Joi = require('joi');\nconst schema = Joi.object({\n  age: Joi.number().integer(),\n  active: Joi.string().trim().lowercase().valid('true', 'false').truthy('true').falsy('false').default(false).cast('boolean')\n});\n\nconst dataToValidate = {\n  age: '30',\n  active: 'TRUE'\n};\n\nconst result = schema.validate(dataToValidate, { convert: true });\nconsole.log(result.value); // { age: 30, active: true }"}

Custom Validation Messages

Joi allows you to specify custom validation messages for when data does not conform to the schema. This example shows how to set a custom message for a string that is too short.

{"const Joi = require('joi');\nconst schema = Joi.string().min(10).message('The string needs to be at least 10 characters long.');\n\nconst result = schema.validate('short');\nconsole.log(result.error); // Custom error message"}

Other packages similar to joi

yup

Yup is a JavaScript schema builder for value parsing and validation. It is similar to Joi but is leaner and designed for browser usage as well as Node.js. It uses a similar API to Joi but is built with a different focus on client-side validation.

ajv

Ajv (Another JSON Schema Validator) is a fast JSON schema validator supporting JSON Schema draft-06/07/2019-09/2020-12 and JSON Type Definition (RFC 8927). It is different from Joi in that it uses a JSON-based schema definition rather than a fluent API.

validator

Validator is a library of string validators and sanitizers. It is not a schema-based validation library like Joi but provides a set of string validation functions that can be used individually to validate specific types of input data.

class-validator

Class-validator works with TypeScript and uses decorators to define validation rules within class definitions. It is different from Joi in that it integrates tightly with TypeScript and leverages its type system for validation.

README

joi

The most powerful schema description language and data validator for JavaScript.

Installation

npm install joi

Visit the joi.dev Developer Portal for tutorials, documentation, and support

Useful resources

• Documentation and API
• Versions status
• Changelog
• Project policies