Play Framework: How to write multiple custom validation functions for a form field

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: April 11, 2018

If you ever need to include multiple Play Framework 2.6 validators for a template form field, the uri field below shows the syntax that worked for me:

//see https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.6.x/ScalaCustomValidations
//see https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.6.x/ScalaForms
val form: Form[BlogPost] = Form (
    mapping(
        "title" -> nonEmptyText,
        "blogContent" -> nonEmptyText,
        "tags" -> nonEmptyText,
        "description" -> nonEmptyText(maxLength = 160),
        "uri" -> nonEmptyText
                     .verifying("error: must begin with a /", u => beginsWithSlash(u))
                     .verifying("error: invalid characters in uri", u => charsAreAllowedInUri(u))
    )(BlogPost.apply)(BlogPost.unapply)
)

As shown, just call the verifying method as many times as needed on the form field you want to validate with your custom functions.

The two custom validation methods I use in that example take a String and return a Boolean, as shown here:

// verify that a string begins with a slash
private def beginsWithSlash(s: String): Boolean = s.startsWith("/")

// make sure the characters in the string are legal in a uri
private def charsAreAllowedInUri(s: String): Boolean = {
    val regex = "[0-9a-zA-Z-_]*"
    s.matches(regex)
}

In summary, if you ever need to include multiple custom Play Framework validation functions for a form field, I hope this example is helpful.

scala

form