# Should this work? - "validates\_inclusion\_of :start\_date, :in =\> (Time.now.to\_date - 100.years)..(Tim **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 20, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768 "2008-11-20T22:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/1 "2008-11-20T22:23:50Z")
wondering if should this work? - “validates\_inclusion\_of :start\_date, :in =\> (Time.now.to\_date - 100.years)…(Time.now.to\_date + 100.years)” (doesn’t seem to for me) i.e. should I be able to “validates\_inclusion\_of” to do date validation. … class GraphOptions \< ActiveRecord::BaseWithoutTable column :start\_date, :date validates\_inclusion\_of :start\_date, :in =\> (Time.now.to\_date - 100.years)…(Time.now.to\_date + 100.years) end … tks ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/2 "2008-11-21T20:23:48Z")
Greg, validates\_inclusion\_of is looking for :in to be an enumeration. In a simple case (one day granularity) you’re asking for a list that’s 365.25 \* 200 =\> 73050 items long. My guess is it’s a good thing it didn’t work 😉 Maybe you want to go for a min/max check here. Rick On Nov 20, 11:22 am, “Greg H.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/3 "2008-11-22T07:09:39Z")
I’ve actually run with the following: def validate errors.add(‘start\_date’, ‘is not in Date format’) if !start\_date.kind\_of?(Date) errors.add(‘end\_date’, ‘is not in Date format’) if !end\_date.kind\_of?(Date) end Its seems that the Rails controller tries to convert it to Date and either succeeds or fails (without throwing an exception). So I just test to see at the subsequent validate stage whether there is a Date object or not ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/4 "2008-11-22T12:05:37Z")
Right, but back to your initial question, I don’t think my initial answer was even close to the mark. I believe the problem you’re having is that the validates\_inclusion is looking for an enumeration hanging off the :in. i.e. [1,2,3,4,5] or 1…5 will work but (My Name Is Frank)…(Your N. Is Louie) somehow doesn’t look right, does it? You’re doing :in =\> (Sun, 22 Nov 1908)…(Sun, 22 Nov 2108) which just isn’t going to happen. Try converting to Julian days, that way you’ll be bounded with two positive integers. Rick On Nov 21, 8:08 pm, “Greg H.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/5 "2008-11-22T12:30:49Z")
Greg - you might take a look at time\_with\_zone.rb in ActiveSupport - I’m looking at 2.2.0 but I know it’s in 2.1.2 as well. a = Time.now a.is\_a?(Time) =\> true a = “My name is Fred” a.is\_a?(Time) =\> false Maybe closer to what you need? Rick ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/6 "2008-11-22T14:27:26Z")
On 21 Nov 2008, at 19:22, Rick wrote: > Greg, > > validates\_inclusion\_of is looking for :in to be an enumeration. In a > simple case (one day granularity) you’re asking for a list that’s > 365.25 \* 200 =\> 73050 items long. ranges are enumerable and ruby is smart enough to keep it as a range, eg r = (-1000000000…1000000000) does not create a 2 billion element array Fred ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/7 "2008-11-23T00:53:53Z")
thanks - I’m specifically looking at Dates so I might stick with the below that seems to be working fine… ``` errors.add('start_date', 'is not in Date format') if ``` !start\_date.kind\_of?(Date) cheers ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@greg](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/should-this-work-validates-inclusion-of-start-date-in-time-now-to-date-100-years-tim/153768/8 "2008-11-24T22:06:05Z")
Hello Greg, So here it is. After a couple of mail exchanges with Fred, I need to tell you that I was wrong from the start. Your initial code as given, validates\_inclusion\_of :start\_date, :in =\> (Time.now.to\_date - 100.years)…(Time.now.to\_date + 100.years) will work in the case where :start\_date is the name of one of your records fields and is a member of the Time class. Sorry if my confused meander wasted too much of your time. Thanks for your help Fred. Rick On Nov 22, 1:52 pm, “Greg H.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)