Developer Utilities

David Bernheisel 2021-03-26

Only validate Ecto changeset if already persisted

You can validate a field based on if it's in memory or persisted. Use Ecto.get_meta/2 to check for the state of the struct https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/Ecto.Schema.Metadata.html h/t to @sleeplessgeek

import Ecto.Changeset

def ensure_hostname_is_permanent(changeset) do
  state = Ecto.get_meta(changeset, :state)

  # state will be :built (in memory), :loaded (persisted), or :deleted (on its way out)

  if get_change(changeset, :hostname) && state != :built do
    add_error(changeset, :hostname, "Cannot change hostname after persisting")
  else
    changeset
  end
end

Elixir Tips

Only validate Ecto changeset if already persisted