Integrating FluentValidation validator with base Entity class

Question

I want to use AbstractValidator<T> inside base entity class.

[Serializable]
public abstract class Entity<T> where T : Entity<T>
{
    public virtual Boolean Validate(AbstractValidator<T> validator)
    {
        return validator.Validate(this as ValidationContext<T>).IsValid;
    }
    // other stuff..
}

But one of my tests fails saying that Validate() method couldn't accept null as a paramter.

[Test]
public void CategoryDescriptionIsEmpty()
{
    var category = new Category
    {
        Title = "some title",
        Description = String.Empty
    };

    Assert.False(category.Validate(this.validator) == true);
}

[SetUp]
public void Setup()
{
    this.validator = new CategoryValidator();
}

I'm using Visual Web Developer and at the moment can't install C# Developer Express to create console application to debug the error. Since that I don't know how do I debug inside the unit test. Alternatively it would be great if some explanation could be given!

Thanks!

Answer 1

This topic is old, but I found useful and made a little diferent:

public abstract class WithValidation<V> where V : IValidator
    {

        private IValidator v = Activator.CreateInstance<V>();

        public bool IsValid => !(Errors.Count() > 0);

        public IEnumerable<string> Errors
        {
            get
            {
                var results = v.Validate(this);

                List<string> err = new List<string>();

                if (!results.IsValid)
                    foreach (var item in results.Errors)
                        err.Add(item.ErrorMessage);

                return err;

            }
        }
    }

public class Client : WithValidation<ClientValidator>
    {

        public Guid Id { get; set; }

        public string Name { get; set; }

        public int Age { get; set; }

    }

public class ClientValidator : AbstractValidator<Client>
    {

        public ClientValidator()
        {
            RuleFor(c => c.Name).NotNull();
            RuleFor(c => c.Age).GreaterThan(10);
        }


    }

So you can use easier now like:

Client c = new Client();

var isvalid = c.IsValid;

IList<string> errors = c.Errors;