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**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [October 3, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/providing-html-in-an-error-message-generated-by-validation/116240 "2007-10-03T19:22:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1
**Author:**  [@weyus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/weyus)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/providing-html-in-an-error-message-generated-by-validation/116240/1 "2007-10-03T19:22:41Z")
All,
I have some validation that I’m doing in a model.
As part of the error message, I would like to provide an HTML link.
What is the best approach to handling this?
APPROACH 1: One way is to
include ActionView::Helpers::UrlHelper
include ActionView::Helpers::TagHelper
in my model so that I can use link\_to to generate my link (obv. I could
hard code HTML as well).
But anyway that feels crappy - too much view stuff in the model.
APPROACH 2: A better seeming - approach would be to encapsulate the
generation of the link in a helper method and call that in my model
where I generate the error message.
How do I get access to one of my helpers from a model class?
APPROACH 3: Put in some kind of place-holder when I generate the error
in the model and then replace that on the fly in the controller before I
render the error.
Any thoughts on this?
In general, I think it’s easy to forget that when you put error message
generation in the model, you are generating view artifacts, it just may
not feel that way.
Thanks,
Wes
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**Author:**  [@weyus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/weyus)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/providing-html-in-an-error-message-generated-by-validation/116240/2 "2007-10-03T21:15:48Z")
I have no problem with error generation in the model. It’s nice to see
an
array of error messages in the model.
I would say you make your own display for it tho…
\<%=special\_error\_messages\_for @foo %\>
and in the helper, inspect the errors collection that comes from the
model
and then display appropriate values. If you look at the rails source,
it
specifically says that error\_messages\_for is really just an example and
you
should do your own.
Remember, the model only puts messages in an array. Your view formats
them… I don’t consider those view artifacts any more than I consider a
total for an invoice to be one… it’s 200.0 in the model, but in the
view
I use the number\_to\_currency helper 🙂
Just my opinion tho… feel free to disagree. This is how I’ve handled
it
before tho.
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**Author:**  [@weyus](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/weyus)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/providing-html-in-an-error-message-generated-by-validation/116240/3 "2007-10-03T21:52:31Z")
I ended up doing this:
1. setting a placeholder in my error message in the model, like so:
2. In my view, I sub in the output of a helper (method called
generate\_appropriate\_link), like so:
(come to think of it, I could probably hide most of this in the helper
method)
and then later calling error\_messages\_for(:obj\_of\_interest)
This allowed me to take advantage of the URL helper stuff more easily.
===========
To respond to Brian’s post, I guess I am a little hung up on the fact
that error “messages” are being set in the model. Obviously, you have
the power to do anything to that message that you want when you render
the view.
The error message (set in the model) does two things:
1. by its existence it indicates that an attribute is “in error”, and
2. provides a default rendering for the information about the error for
the view.
So I think that the built-in error message stuff _is_ providing view
artifacts in the sense that you get a default representation of error in
the view.
Although, to be fair, this is the nature of the Rails Errors object :).
Which I think I am arguing is blurring the boundaries between view and
model. But that’s ok.
===============
It works 🙂
Wes