Joi requiring fields when it shoudnt be

Question

So I have some posts validation using @hapi/joi 17.1.1 and in there I have two fields: textfield and picture. Im not requring any of the fields yet still it is saying that picture is required.

posts validation

module.exports.postsValidation = (data) => {
  const schema = Joi.object({
    textfield: Joi.string().max(280),
    picture: Joi.string(),
  });

  return schema.validate(data);
};

posts.js (where im using validation)

router.post("/create", authenticateToken, async (req, res) => {
  try {
    if ((req.body.textfield == "") & (req.body.picture == "")) {
      return res.status(400).json("Fill one of the fields");
    }

    const { error } = postsValidation(req.body);
    if (error) return res.status(400).json(error.details[0].message);

    // Getting info for new post
    const newPost = new Post({
      textfield: req.body.textfield,
      picture: req.body.picture,
      ownerId: req.user._id,
    });

    // Saving new post
    await newPost.save();

    res.json(newPost);
  } catch (error) {
    res.sendStatus(500);
  }
});

when I log out the error it says this

[Error [ValidationError]: "picture" is not allowed to be empty] {
  _original: { textfield: 'sssss', picture: '' },
  details: [
    {
      message: '"picture" is not allowed to be empty',
      path: [Array],
      type: 'string.empty',
      context: [Object]
    }
  ]
}

Can anyone please tell whats going on?

Answer 1

This is because you are sending the prop picture from the FE side and it's an empty string ''. You should add an .allow('') your validation picture: Joi.string().allow('') if you want to save an empty string inside the DB or change the FE side to not send the picture prop at all if the string is empty.