Automatically Added Validators

Automatically added validators, like AutoRequire and AutoInEnum, simplify the validation process by automatically applying commonly needed rules based on the data type or structure of your properties.

Required

When the AutoRequire option is enabled, Validly automatically adds a Required validator to every property of a reference type that is not nullable. This ensures that non-nullable properties are always validated for presence, reducing the need for manual annotations and promoting more concise and reliable validation rules.

InEnum

When the AutoInEnum option is enabled, Validly automatically adds a InEnum validator to every Enum property. This ensures that the property value is always validated against the defined set of enum members, preventing invalid or undefined values from passing through.

We recommend avoiding defining enum members with a value of zero. Without a zero value in the enum, the default value (0) automatically signifies an invalid state. This becomes particularly useful in scenarios like API requests. If an enum property receives no value or is null while being non-nullable, the resulting object instance will assign the default value of zero to the property. In such cases, the InEnum validator will detect the default value as invalid, helping to identify missing or incorrect input.

However, if zero is assigned to a valid enum member, it becomes impossible to distinguish between a valid value and an unintentional default, potentially leading to undetected bad requests.