The length of a string value for a property such as the title of a book may have to be constrained, typically rather by a maximum length, but possibly also by a minimum length. In an SQL table definition, a maximum string length can be specified in parenthesis appended to the SQL datatype CHAR or VARCHAR, as in VARCHAR(50).

UML does not define any special way of expressing string length constraints in class diagrams. Of course, we always have the option to use an invariant for expressing any kind of constraint, but it seems preferable to use a simpler form of expressing these property constraints. One option is to append a maximum length, or both a minimum and a maximum length, in parenthesis to the datatype name, like so

Another option is to use min/max constraint keywords in the property modifier list:

A mandatory value constraint requires that a property must have a value. This can be expressed in a UML class diagram with the help of a multiplicity constraint expression where the lower multiplicity is 1. For a single-valued property, this would result in the multiplicity expression 1..1, or the simplified expression 1, appended to the property name in brackets. For example, the following class diagram defines a mandatory value constraint for the property name:

Whenever a class rectangle does not show a multiplicity expression for a property, the property is mandatory (and single-valued), that is, the multiplicity expression 1 is the default for properties.

In an SQL table creation statement, a mandatory value constraint is expressed in a table column definition by appending the key phrase NOT NULL to the column definition as in the following example:

CREATE TABLE persons(
  name  VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,
  age   INTEGER
)

According to this table definition, any row of the persons table must have a value in the column name, but not necessarily in the column age.

In JavaScript, we can code a mandatory value constraint by a class-level check function that tests if the provided argument evaluates to a value, as illustrated in the following example:

Person.checkName = function (n) {
  if (n === undefined) {
    return "A name must be provided!"; // constraint violation error message
  } else return "";  // no constraint violation
};

With Java Bean Validation, a mandatory property like name is annotated with NotNull in the following way:

@Entity
public class Person {
    @NotNull
    private String name;
    private int age;
}

The equivalent ASP.NET Data Annotation is Required as shown in

public class Person{
    [Required]
    public string name { get; set; }
    public int age { get; set; }
}

A range constraint requires that a property must have a value from the value space of the type that has been defined as its range. This is implicitly expressed by defining a type for a property as its range. For instance, the attribute age defined for the object type Person in the class diagram above has the range Integer, so it must not have a value like "aaa", which does not denote an integer. However, it may have values like -13 or 321, which also do not make sense as the age of a person. In a similar way, since its range is String, the attribute name may have the value "" (the empty string), which is a valid string that does not make sense as a name.

We can avoid allowing negative integers like -13 as age values, and the empty string as a name, by assigning more specific datatypes as range to these attributes, such as NonNegativeInteger to age, and NonEmptyString to name. Notice that such more specific datatypes are neither predefined in SQL nor in common programming languages, so we have to implement them either in the form of user-defined types, as supported in SQL-99 database management systems such as PostgreSQL, or by using suitable additional constraints such as interval constraints, which are discussed in the next section. In a UML class diagram, we can simply define NonNegativeInteger and NonEmptyString as custom datatypes and then use them in the definition of a property, as illustrated in the following diagram:

In JavaScript, we can code a range constraint by a check function, as illustrated in the following example:

Person.checkName = function (n) {
  if (typeof(n) !== "string" || n.trim() === "") {
    return "Name must be a non-empty string!";
  } else return "";
};

This check function detects and reports a constraint violation if the given value for the name property is not of type "string" or is an empty string.

In a Java EE web app, for declaring empty strings as non-admissible user input we must set the context parameter

javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL 

to true in the web deployment descriptor file web.xml.

In ASP.NET, empty strings are non-admissible by default.

An interval constraint requires that an attribute's value must be in a specific interval, which is specified by a minimum value or a maximum value, or both. Such a constraint can be defined for any attribute having an ordered type, but normally we define them only for numeric datatypes or calendar datatypes. For instance, we may want to define an interval constraint requiring that the age attribute value must be in the interval [25,70]. In a class diagram, we can define such a constraint by using the property modifiers min and max, as shown for the age attribute of the Driver class in the following diagram.

In an SQL table creation statement, an interval constraint is expressed in a table column definition by appending a suitable CHECK clause to the column definition as in the following example:

CREATE TABLE drivers(
  name  VARCHAR NOT NULL,
  age   INTEGER CHECK (age >= 25 AND age <= 70)
)

In JavaScript, we can code an interval constraint in the following way:

Driver.checkAge = function (a) {
  if (a < 25 || a > 70) {
    return "Age must be between 25 and 70!";
  } else return "";
};

In Java Bean Validation, we express this interval constraint by adding the annotations Min(0) and Max(120) to the property age in the following way:

@Entity
public class Driver {
    @NotNull
    private String name;
    @Min(25) @Max(70)
    private int age;
} 

The equivalent ASP.NET Data Annotation is Range(25,70) as shown in

public class Driver{
    [Required]
    public string name { get; set; }
    [Range(25,70)]
    public int age { get; set; }
} 

A pattern constraint requires that a string attribute's value must match a certain pattern, typically defined by a regular expression. For instance, for the object type Book we define an isbn attribute with the datatype String as its range and add a pattern constraint requiring that the isbn attribute value must be a 10-digit string or a 9-digit string followed by "X" to the Book class rectangle shown in the following diagram.

In an SQL table creation statement, a pattern constraint is expressed in a table column definition by appending a suitable CHECK clause to the column definition as in the following example:

CREATE TABLE books(
  isbn   VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL CHECK (isbn ~ '^\d{9}(\d|X)$'),
  title  VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
)

The ~ (tilde) symbol denotes the regular expression matching predicate and the regular expression ^\d{9}(\d|X)$ follows the syntax of the POSIX standard (see, e.g. the PostgreSQL documentation).

In JavaScript, we can code a pattern constraint by using the built-in regular expression function test, as illustrated in the following example:

Person.checkIsbn = function (id) {
  if (!/\b\d{9}(\d|X)\b/.test( id)) {
    return "The ISBN must be a 10-digit string or a 9-digit string followed by 'X'!";
  } else return "";
};

In Java EE Bean Validation, this pattern constraint for isbn is expressed with the annotation Pattern in the following way:

@Entity
public class Book {
    @NotNull
    @Pattern(regexp="^\\(\d{9}(\d|X))$")
    private String isbn;
    @NotNull
    private String title;
} 

The equivalent ASP.NET Data Annotation is RegularExpression as shown in

public class Book{
    [Required]
    [RegularExpression(@"^(\d{9}(\d|X))$")]
    public string isbn { get; set; }
    public string title { get; set; }
}

A cardinality constraint requires that the cardinality of a multi-valued property's value set is not less than a given minimum cardinality or not greater than a given maximum cardinality. In UML, cardinality constraints are called multiplicity constraints, and minimum and maximum cardinalities are expressed with the lower bound and the upper bound of the multiplicity expression, as shown in the following diagram, which contains two examples of properties with cardinality constraints.

The attribute definition nickNames[0..3] in the class Person specifies a minimum cardinality of 0 and a maximum cardinality of 3, with the meaning that a person may have no nickname or at most 3 nicknames. The reference property definition members[3..5] in the class Team specifies a minimum cardinality of 3 and a maximum cardinality of 5, with the meaning that a team must have at least 3 and at most 5 members.

It's not obvious how cardinality constraints could be checked in an SQL database, as there is no explicit concept of cardinality constraints in SQL, and the generic form of constraint expressions in SQL, assertions, are not supported by available DBMSs. However, it seems that the best way to implement a minimum (or maximum) cardinality constraint is an on-delete (or on-insert) trigger that tests the number of rows with the same reference as the deleted (or inserted) row.

In JavaScript, we can code a cardinality constraint validation for a multi-valued property by testing the size of the property's value set, as illustrated in the following example:

Person.checkNickNames = function (nickNames) {
  if (nickNames.length > 3) {
    return "There must be no more than 3 nicknames!";
  } else return "";
};

With Java Bean Validation annotations, we can specify

@Size( max=3) 
List<String> nickNames
@Size( min=3, max=5) 
List<Person> members

A uniqueness constraint (or key constraint) requires that a property's value (or the value list of a list of properties in the case of a composite key constraint) is unique among all instances of the given object type. For instance, in a UML class diagram with the object type Book we can define the isbn attribute to be unique, or, in other words, a key, by appending the (user-defined) property modifier keyword key in curly braces to the attribute's definition in the Book class rectangle shown in the following diagram.

In an SQL table creation statement, a uniqueness constraint is expressed by appending the keyword UNIQUE to the column definition as in the following example:

CREATE TABLE books(
  isbn   VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
  title  VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
)

In JavaScript, we can code this uniqueness constraint by a check function that tests if there is already a book with the given isbn value in the books table of the app's database.

A unique attribute (or a composite key) can be declared to be the standard identifier for objects of a given type, if it is mandatory (or if all attributes of the composite key are mandatory). We can indicate this in a UML class diagram with the help of the property modifier id appended to the declaration of the attribute isbn as shown in the following diagram.

Notice that such a standard ID declaration implies both a mandatory value and a uniqueness constraint on the attribute concerned.

Often, practitioners do not recommended using a composite key as a standard ID, since composite identifiers are more difficult to handle and not always supported by tools. Whenever an object type does not have a key attribute, but only a composite key, it may therefore be preferable to add an artificial standard ID attribute (also called surrogate ID) to the object type. However, each additional surrogate ID has a price: it creates some cognitive and computational overhead. Consequently, in the case of a simple composite key, it may be preferable not to add a surrogate ID, but use the composite key as the standard ID.

There is also an argument against using any real attribute, such as the isbn attribute, for a standard ID. The argument points to the risk that the values even of natural ID attributes like isbn may have to be changed during the life time of a business object, and any such change would require an unmanageable effort to change also all corresponding ID references. However, the business semantics of natural ID attributes implies that they are frozen. Thus, the need of a value change can only occur in the case of a data input error. But such a case is normally detected early in the life time of the object concerned, and at this stage the change of all corresponding ID references is still manageable.

Standard IDs are called primary keys in relational databases. We can declare an attribute to be the primary key in an SQL table creation statement by appending the phrase PRIMARY KEY to the column definition as in the following example:

CREATE TABLE books(
  isbn   VARCHAR(10) PRIMARY KEY,
  title  VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
)

In object-oriented programming languages, like JavaScript and Java, we cannot code a standard ID declaration, because this would have to be part of the metadata of a class definition, and there is no support for such metadata. However, we should still check the implied mandatory value and uniqueness constraints.

A referential integrity constraint requires that the values of a reference property refer to an object that exists in the population of the property's range class. Since we do not deal with reference properties in this chapter, we postpone the discussion of referential integrity constraints to Part 4 of our tutorial.

A frozen value constraint defined for a property requires that the value of this property must not be changed after it has been assigned. This includes the special case of read-only value constraints on mandatory properties that are initialized at object creation time.

Typical examples of properties with a frozen value constraint are standard identifier attributes and event properties. In the case of events, the semantic principle that the past cannot be changed prohibits that the property values of events can be changed. In the case of a standard identifier attribute we may want to prevent users from changing the ID of an object since this requires that all references to this object using the old ID value are changed as well, which may be difficult to achieve (even though SQL provides special support for such ID changes by means of its ON UPDATE CASCADE clause for the change management of foreign keys).

The following diagram shows how to define a frozen value constraint for the isbn attribute:

In Java, a read-only value constraint can be enforced by declaring the property to be final. In JavaScript, a read-only property slot can be implemented as in the following example:

Object.defineProperty( obj, "teamSize", {value: 5, writable: false, enumerable: true})

where the property slot obj.teamSize is made unwritable. An entire object obj can be frozen with Object.freeze( obj).

We can implement a frozen value constraint for a property in the property's setter method like so:

Book.prototype.setIsbn = function (i) {
  if (this.isbn === undefined) this.isbn = i;
  else console.log("Attempt to re-assign a frozen property!");
}

So far, we have only discussed how to define and check property constraints. However, in certain cases there may be also integrity constraints that do not just depend on the value of a particular property, but rather on

In a class model, property constraints can be expressed within the property declaration line in a class rectangle (typically with keywords, such as id, max, etc.). For expressing more complex constraints, such as object-level or type-level constraints, we can attach an invariant declaration box to the class rectangle(s) concerned and express the constraint either in (unambiguous) English or in the Object Constraint Language (OCL). A simple example of an object-level constraint expressed as an OCL invariant is shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. An example of an object-level constraint

A general approach for implementing object-level constraint validation consists of taking the following steps:

We add three library files to the lib folder:

The start page index.html takes care of loading CSS page styling files with the help of the following two link elements:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/normalize.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/main.css">

Then it loads the following JavaScript files:

These steps are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

The class Book is coded as a corresponding constructor function with the same name Book such that all its (non-derived) properties are supplied with values from corresponding key-value slots of a slots parameter.

function Book( slots) {
  // assign default values
  this.isbn = "";   // string
  this.title = "";  // string
  this.year = 0;    // number (int)
  // assign properties only if the constructor is invoked with an argument
  if (arguments.length > 0) {
    this.setIsbn( slots.isbn); 
    this.setTitle( slots.title); 
    this.setYear( slots.year);
    // optional property
    if (slots.edition) this.setEdition( slots.edition);
  }
};

In the constructor body, we first assign default values to the class properties. These values will be used when the constructor is invoked as a default constructor (without arguments), or when it is invoked with only some arguments. It is helpful to indicate the range of a property in a comment. This requires to map the platform-independent datatypes of the information design model to the corresponding implicit JavaScript datatypes according to the following table.

Since the setters may throw constraint violation errors, the constructor function, and any setter, should be called in a try-catch block where the catch clause takes care of processing errors (at least logging suitable error messages).

As in the minimal app, we add a class-level property Book.instances representing the collection of all Book instances managed by the app in the form of an entity table:

Book.instances = {};

Code the property check functions in the form of class-level ('static') methods. In JavaScript, this means to define them as method slots of the constructor, as in Book.checkIsbn (recall that a constructor is a JS object, since in JavaScript, functions are objects, and as an object, it can have slots).

Take care that all constraints of a property as specified in the class model are properly coded in its check function. This concerns, in particular, the mandatory value and uniqueness constraints implied by the standard identifier declaration (with {id}), and the mandatory value constraints for all properties with multiplicity 1, which is the default when no multiplicity is shown. If any constraint is violated, an error object instantiating one of the error classes listed above in Section 4.1 and defined in the file errorTypes.js is returned.

For instance, for the checkIsbn operation we obtain the following code:

Book.checkIsbn = function (id) {
  if (!id) {
    return new NoConstraintViolation();
  } else if (typeof id !== "string" || id.trim() === "") {
    return new RangeConstraintViolation(
        "The ISBN must be a non-empty string!");
  } else if (!/\b\d{9}(\d|X)\b/.test( id)) {
    return new PatternConstraintViolation(
        "The ISBN must be a 10-digit string or "+
        " a 9-digit string followed by 'X'!");
  } else {
    return new NoConstraintViolation();
  }
};

Notice that, since isbn is the standard identifier attribute of Book, we only check the syntactic constraints in checkIsbn, but we check the mandatory value and uniqueness constraints in checkIsbnAsId, which itself first invokes checkIsbn:

Book.checkIsbnAsId = function (id) {
  var constraintViolation = Book.checkIsbn( id);
  if ((constraintViolation instanceof NoConstraintViolation)) {
    if (!id) {
      constraintViolation = new MandatoryValueConstraintViolation(
          "A value for the ISBN must be provided!");
    } else if (Book.instances[id]) {  
      constraintViolation = new UniquenessConstraintViolation(
          "There is already a book record with this ISBN!");
    } else {
      constraintViolation = new NoConstraintViolation();
    } 
  }
  return constraintViolation;
};

We assume that all check functions and setters can deal both with proper data values (that are of the attribute's range type) and also with string values that are supposed to represent proper data values, but have not yet been converted to the attribute's range type. We take this approach for avoiding datatype conversions in the user interface ("view") code. Notice that all data entered by a user in an HTML form field is of type String and must be converted (or de-serialized) before its validity can be checked and it can be assigned to the corresponding property. It is preferable to perform these type conversions in the model code, and not in the user interface code..

For instance, in our example app, we have the integer-valued attribute year. When the user has entered a value for this attribute in a corresponding form field, in the Create or Update user interface, the form field holds a string value. This value is passed to the Book.add or Book.update method, which invokes the setYear and checkYear methods. Only after being validated, this string value is converted to an integer and assigned to the year attribute.

Code the setter operations as (instance-level) methods. In the setter, the corresponding check function is invoked and the property is only set, if the check does not detect any constraint violation. Otherwise, the constraint violation error object returned by the check function is thrown. For instance, the setIsbn operation is coded in the following way:

Book.prototype.setIsbn = function (id) {
  var validationResult = Book.checkIsbnAsId( id);
  if (validationResult instanceof NoConstraintViolation) {
    this.isbn = id;
  } else {
    throw validationResult;
  }
};

There are similar setters for the other properties (title, year and edition).

It is helpful to have an object serialization function tailored to the structure of an object (as defined by its class) such that the result of serializing an object is a human-readable string representation of the object showing all relevant information items of it. By convention, these functions are called toString(). In the case of the Book class, we use the following code:

Book.prototype.toString = function () {
  return "Book{ ISBN:" + this.isbn + ", title:" + this.title +
      ", year:" + this.year + (this.edition || "") +"}"; 
};

In addition to defining the model class in the form of a constructor function with property definitions, checks and setters, as well as a toString() serialization function, we also need to define the following data management operations as class-level methods of the model class:

All of these methods essentially have the same code as in our minimal app discussed in Part 1, except that now

Notice that for the change operations add (create) and update, we need to implement an all-or-nothing policy: whenever there is a constraint violation for a property, no new object must be created and no (partial) update of the affected object must be performed.

When a constraint violation is detected in one of the setters called when new Book(...) is invoked in Book.add, the object creation attempt fails, and instead a constraint violation error message is created. Otherwise, the new book object is added to Book.instances and a status message is created, as shown in the following program listing:

Book.add = function (slots) {
  var book = null;
  try {
    book = new Book( slots);
  } catch (e) {
    console.log( e.constructor.name +": "+ e.message);
    book = null;
  }
  if (book) {
    Book.instances[book.isbn] = book;
    console.log( book.toString() + " created!");
  }
};

When an object of a model class is to be updated, we first create a clone of it for being able to restore it if the update attempt fails. In the object update attempt, we only assign those properties of the object the value of which has changed, and we report this in a status log.

Normally, all properties defined by a model class, except the standard identifier attribute, can be updated. It is, however, possible to also allow updating the standard identifier attribute. This requires special care for making sure that all references to the given object via its old standard identifier are updated as well.

When a constraint violation is detected in one of the setters invoked in Book.update, the object update attempt fails, and instead the error message of the constraint violation object thrown by the setter and caught in the update method is shown, and the previous state of the object is restored. Otherwise, a status message is created, as shown in the following program listing:

Book.update = function (slots) {
  var book = Book.instances[slots.isbn],
      noConstraintViolated = true,
      updatedProperties = [],
      objectBeforeUpdate = util.cloneObject( book);
  try {
    if (book.title !== slots.title) {
      book.setTitle( slots.title);
      updatedProperties.push("title");
    }
    if (book.year !== parseInt( slots.year)) {
      book.setYear( slots.year);
      updatedProperties.push("year");
    }
    if (slots.edition && slots.edition !== book.edition) {
      // slots.edition has a non-empty value that is new
      book.setEdition( slots.edition);
      updatedProperties.push("edition");
    } else if (!slots.edition && book.edition !== undefined) {
      // slots.edition has an empty value that is new
      delete book.edition;
      updatedProperties.push("edition");
    }
  } catch (e) {...}
  ...
};

Notice that optional properties, like edition, need to be treated in a special way. If the user doesn't enter any value for them in a Create or Update user interface, the form field's value is the empty string "". In the case of an optional property, this means that the property is not assigned a value in the add use case, or that it is unset if it has had a value in the update use case. This is different from the case of a mandatory property, where the empty string value obtained from an empty form field may or may not be an admissible value.

If there is a constraint violation exception, an error message is written to the log and the object concerned is reset to its previous state:

Book.update = function (slots) {
  ...
  try {
    ...
  } catch (e) {
    console.log( e.constructor.name +": "+ e.message);
    noConstraintViolated = false;
    // restore object to its state before updating
    Book.instances[slots.isbn] = objectBeforeUpdate;
  }
  if (noConstraintViolated) {
    if (updatedProperties.length > 0) {
      console.log("Properties " + updatedProperties.toString() +
          " modified for book " + slots.isbn);
    } else {
      console.log("No property value changed for book " + 
          slots.isbn + " !");
    }
  }
};

Each data management UI page loads the same basic CSS and JavaScript files like the start page index.html discussed above. In addition, it loads a use-case-specific view code file src/v/useCase.js and then sets the setupUserInterface procedure of the use-case as an event handler for the page load event, which takes care of initializing the use case when the UI page has been loaded.

For initializing the app, its namespace and MVC sub-namespaces have to be defined. For our example app, the main namespace is defined to be pl, standing for "Public Library", with the three sub-namespaces m, v and c being initially empty objects:

var pl = { m:{}, v:{}, c:{} };

We put this code in the file initialize.js in the c folder.

For setting up the user interfaces of the data management use cases, we have to distinguish the case of "Retrieve/List All" from the other ones (Create, Update, Delete). While the latter ones require using an HTML form and attaching event handlers to form controls, in the case of "Retrieve/List All" we only have to render a table displaying all books, as in the case of the Minimal App discussed in Part 1 of this tutorial.

For the Create, Update and Delete use cases, we need to add event listeners for:

For the use case Create, we obtain the following code (in v/createBook.js)::

pl.v.createBook = {
  setupUserInterface: function () {
    var formEl = document.forms['Book'],
        saveButton = formEl.commit;
    // load all book records
    Book.retrieveAll();
    // add event listeners for responsive validation
    formEl.isbn.addEventListener("input", function () { 
        formEl.isbn.setCustomValidity( 
            Book.checkIsbnAsId( formEl.isbn.value).message);
    });
    formEl.title.addEventListener("input", function () { 
        formEl.title.setCustomValidity( 
            Book.checkTitle( formEl.title.value).message);
    });
    formEl.year.addEventListener("input", function () { 
        formEl.year.setCustomValidity( 
            Book.checkYear( formEl.year.value).message);
    });
    formEl.edition.addEventListener("input", function () { 
        formEl.edition.setCustomValidity( 
            Book.checkEdition( formEl.edition.value).message);
    });
    ...
  }
};

Notice that for each input field we add a listener for input events, such that on any user input a validation check is performed because input events are created by user input actions such as typing. We use the predefined function setCustomValidity from the HTML5 form validation API for having our property check functions invoked on the current value of the form field and returning an error message in the case of a constraint violation. So, whenever the string represented by the expression Book.checkIsbn( formEl.isbn.value).message is empty, everything is fine. Otherwise, if it represents an error message, the browser indicates the constraint violation to the user by rendering a red outline for the form field concerned (due to our CSS rule for the :invalid pseudo class).

In addition to the event handlers for responsive constraint validation, we need two more event handlers:

pl.v.createBook = {
  setupUserInterface: function () {
    ...
    // Set an event handler for the submit/save button
    saveButton.addEventListener("click", 
        pl.v.createBook.handleSaveButtonClickEvent);
    // neutralize the submit event
    formEl.addEventListener( 'submit', function (e) { 
        e.preventDefault();
        formEl.reset();
    });
    // when the browser window/tab is closed
    window.addEventListener("beforeunload", Book.saveAll);
  },
  handleSaveButtonClickEvent: function () {...}
};

While the validation on user input enhances the usability of the UI by providing immediate feedback to the user, validation on form data submission is even more important for catching invalid data. Therefore, the event handler handleSaveButtonClickEvent() performs the property checks again with the help of setCustomValidity, as shown in the following program listing:

handleSaveButtonClickEvent: function () {
  var formEl = document.forms['Book'];
  var slots = {isbn: formEl.isbn.value, 
               title: formEl.title.value,
               year: formEl.year.value};
  // set error messages in case of constraint violations
  formEl.isbn.setCustomValidity( 
      Book.checkIsbnAsId( slots.isbn).message);
  formEl.title.setCustomValidity( 
      Book.checkTitle( slots.title).message);
  formEl.year.setCustomValidity( 
      Book.checkYear( slots.year).message);
  if (formEl.edition.value) {
    slots.edition = formEl.edition.value;
    formEl.edition.setCustomValidity( 
        Book.checkEdition( slots.edition).message);
  }
  // save the input data only if all input fields are valid
  if (formEl.checkValidity()) Book.add( slots);
}

By invoking checkValidity() on the form element, we make sure that the form data is only saved (by Book.add), if there is no constraint violation. After this handleSaveButtonClickEvent handler has been executed on an invalid form, the browser takes control and tests if the predefined property validity has an error flag for any form field. In our approach, since we use setCustomValidity, the validity.customError would be true. If this is the case, the custom constraint violation message will be displayed (in a bubble) and the submit event will be suppressed.

In the UI of the use case Update, which is handled in v/updateBook.js, we do not have an input, but rather an output field for the standard identifier attribute isbn, since it is not supposed to be modifiable. Consequently, we don't need to validate any user input for it. However, we need to set up a selection list (in the form of an HTML select element) allowing the user to select a learning unit in the first step, before its data can be modified. This requires to add a change event listener on the select element such that the fields of the UI can be filled with the data of the selected object.

pl.v.updateBook = {
  setupUserInterface: function () {
    var formEl = document.forms['Book'],
        submitButton = formEl.commit,
        selectBookEl = formEl.selectBook;
    // set up the book selection list
    util.fillSelectWithOptions( Book.instances, 
    selectBookEl, "isbn", "title");
    // when a book is selected, fill the form with its data
    selectBookEl.addEventListener("change", function () {
      var book=null, bookKey = selectBookEl.value;
      if (bookKey) {  // set form fields and reset CustomValidity
        book = Book.instances[bookKey];
        ["isbn","title","year","edition"].forEach( function (p) {
          formEl[p].value = book[p] !== undefined ? book[p] : "";
          formEl[p].setCustomValidity("");  // no error
        });
      } else formEl.reset();
    });
    // add event listeners for responsive validation
    ...
    // Set an event handler for the submit/save button
    ...
    // neutralize the submit event
    ...
    // Set a handler for the event when the browser window/tab is closed
    ...
  },
  handleSaveButtonClickEvent: function () {...}
};

There is no need to set up responsive validation for the standard identifier attribute isbn, but for all other form fields, as shown above for the Create use case.

The logic of the setupUserInterface method for the Delete use case is similar. We only need to take care that the object to be deleted can be selected by providing a selection list, like in the Update use case. No validation is needed for the Delete use case.

When object-level validation (across two or more properties) is required for a model class, we can add a custom validation function validate to it, such that object-level validation can be performed before save by invoking validate on the object concerned. For instance, for expressing the constraint defined in the class model shown in Figure 1.1, we define the following validation function:

Author.prototype.validate = function () {
  if (this.dateOfDeath && this.dateOfDeath < this.dateOfBirth) {
    throw new ConstraintViolation(
          "The dateOfDeath must be after the dateOfBirth!");
  }
};

When a validate function has been defined for a model class, it can be invoked in the create and update methods. For instance,

Author.add = function (slots) {
  var author = null;
  try {
    author = new Author( slots);
    author.validate();
  } catch (e) {
    console.log( e.constructor.name +": "+ e.message);
  }
};

Since ES5, JavaScript has its own form of setters, which are implicit and allow having the same semantics as explicit setter methods, but with the simple syntax of direct access. In addition to having the advantage of a simpler syntax, implicit JS setters are also safer than explicit setters because they decrease the likelihood of a programmer circumventing a setter by using a direct property assignment when instead a setter should be used. In other OOP languages, like Java, this is prevented by declaring properties to be 'private'. But JavaScript does not have this option.

The following code defines implicit setter and getter methods for the property title:

Object.defineProperty( Book.prototype, "title", {
  set: function(t) {
    var validationResult = Book.checkTitle( t);
    if (validationResult instanceof NoConstraintViolation) {
      this._title = t;
    } else {
      throw validationResult;
    }
  },
  get: function() {
    return this._title;
  }
});

Notice that, also in the constructor definition, the internal property _title, used for storing the property value, is not used for setting/getting it, but rather the virtual property title:

Book = function (slots) {
  this.learnUnitNo = 0;
  this.title = "";
  if (arguments.length > 0) {
    this.learnUnitNo = slots.learnUnitNo;
    this.title = slots.title;
    // optional property
    if (slots.subjectArea) this.subjectArea = slots.subjectArea;
  }
});

We will start using implicit setter and getter methods, along with ES6 class definitions, in our 3rd tutorial on enumeration attributes.

An issue with the do-it-yourself code of this example app is the boilerplate code needed

While it is good to write this code a few times for learning app development, you don't want to write it again and again later when you work on real projects. In our mODELcLASSjs tutorial, we present an approach how to put these methods in a generic form in a meta-class, such that they can be reused in all model classes of an app.

Some of the new HTML5 input field types (like number, date or color) are intended to allow web browsers rendering corresponding input elements in the form of UI widgets (like date or color pickers) that limit the user's input options such that only valid input is possible. In terms of usability, it's preferable to prevent users from entering invalid data instead of allowing to enter it and only then checking its validity and reporting errors. Unfortunately, and this is quite disappointing, many browsers do, in 2017, still not have reasonable widget implementations for these HTML5 input field types yet.