# How do you use :message with validation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 20, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114 "2006-07-20T11:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/1 "2006-07-20T11:25:28Z")
If I do validates\_uniqueness\_of :name, :message =\> “It’s not uniqueeee!!!” then how do I have it display that message when the check fails? -Ben L. ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/2 "2006-07-20T11:34:04Z")
Ben L. wrote: > If I do validates\_uniqueness\_of :name, :message =\> “It’s not > uniqueeee!!!” > > then how do I have it display that message when the check fails? > > -Ben L. Ben, You need to use flash messages in your views: [http://rubyonrails.org/api/classes/ActionController/Flash.html](http://rubyonrails.org/api/classes/ActionController/Flash.html) - Jean-Etienne ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/3 "2006-07-20T11:40:06Z")
Carl-Johan K. wrote: > Check the API for ActiveRecord::Errors and error\_messages\_for. I am… all i can find is @user.errors.full\_messages… but I want to display each error with formatting. ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/4 "2006-07-20T11:36:11Z")
Check the API for ActiveRecord::Errors and error\_messages\_for. ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/5 "2006-07-20T11:42:37Z")
Jean-etienne Durand wrote: > Ben L. wrote: > > > If I do validates\_uniqueness\_of :name, :message =\> “It’s not > > uniqueeee!!!” > > > > then how do I have it display that message when the check fails? > > > > -Ben L. > > Ben, > > You need to use flash messages in your views: > [http://rubyonrails.org/api/classes/ActionController/Flash.html](http://rubyonrails.org/api/classes/ActionController/Flash.html) > > - Jean-Etienne That’s a part of it, yes. That’s how I’ll display the message… but I’m referring to the parameter :message in a validates\_uniqueness\_of line. How do I access that after the test fails? ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 11:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/6 "2006-07-20T11:42:53Z")
\<%= error\_messages\_for(‘my\_model’) %\> in your view. Some css style examples: 154 /\* error 155 ---- \*/ 156 .fieldWithErrors { 157 padding: 1px; 158 background-color: red; 159 display: table; 160 } 161 #errorExplanation { 162 border: 2px solid red; 163 padding: 7px; 164 padding-bottom: 12px; 165 margin-bottom: 10px; 166 background-color: #f0f0f0; 167 } 168 #errorExplanation h2 { 169 text-align: left; 170 font-weight: bold; 171 padding: 5px 5px 5px 15px; 172 margin: -7px; 173 background-color: #c00; 174 color: #fff; 175 } 176 #errorExplanation p { 177 color: #333; 178 margin-bottom: 0; 179 padding: 5px; 180 } 181 #errorExplanation ul li { 182 list-style: square; 183 } ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/7 "2006-07-20T12:51:44Z")
On 7/20/06, Ben L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > 159 display: table; > > 170 font-weight: bold; > > 181 #errorExplanation ul li { > > for i in (removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid-1) > > flash[:notice] += “ > > ” + @messages[i] > > end > > – > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) You can use the errors.on(:field) if you want to get the message for a field. Or even just errors[:field] As for you example code is there a reason why you couldn’t just use something like flash[:notice] = @user.errors.full\_messages.join(“ ”) The error\_messages\_for will provide you with a display in your view of all these messages, and there is a post from Jean-etienne Durand with an example style. If you don’t want to display some of the portions of what is returned from error\_messages\_for why not control it with CSS. eg errorExplaination h2 { display:none; } errorExplaination p { display:none; } Just my 2c ---
**Author:** ![blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@blewis](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/blewis)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-do-you-use-message-with-validation/99114/8 "2006-07-20T12:08:49Z")
Jean-etienne Durand wrote: > \<%= error\_messages\_for(‘my\_model’) %\> in your view. > > Some css style examples: > 154 /\* error > 155 ---- \*/ > 156 .fieldWithErrors { > 157 padding: 1px; > 158 background-color: red; > 159 display: table; > 160 } > 161 #errorExplanation { > 162 border: 2px solid red; > 163 padding: 7px; > 164 padding-bottom: 12px; > 165 margin-bottom: 10px; > 166 background-color: #f0f0f0; > 167 } > 168 #errorExplanation h2 { > 169 text-align: left; > 170 font-weight: bold; > 171 padding: 5px 5px 5px 15px; > 172 margin: -7px; > 173 background-color: #c00; > 174 color: #fff; > 175 } > 176 #errorExplanation p { > 177 color: #333; > 178 margin-bottom: 0; > 179 padding: 5px; > 180 } > 181 #errorExplanation ul li { > 182 list-style: square; > 183 } thanks - I’m afraid I wasn’t specific enough. Wanted the error message in my controller, not the view. here’s how I did it ``` @messages = @user.errors.full_messages flash[:notice] = @messages[0] for i in (removed_email_address@domain.invalid-1) flash[:notice] += "
" + @messages[i] end ```