ruby script/plugin install svn://vinsol.com/plugins/sur/validate_attributes

Following are the ActiveRecord instance methods that will be available after installing this plugin

1.) validate_attributes
2.) validate_attributes_and_save

Examples:

lets assume a User model with some validations as...

class User < ActiveRecord::Base

	validates_presence_of :name
	validates_length_of :name, :minimum => 5
	validates_presence_of :email
	validates_presence_of :address

end

1.) validate_attributes

Parameters:
We can specify attributes as parameters in the form of :only or :except.
If attributes' arry is given with :only, the method will validate only those attributes.
If given with :except, it will validate all attributes but skip the specified.

	@user = User.new
	@user.validate_attributes(:only => ["name"]) # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Name is too short (minimum is 5 characters)", "Name can't be blank"]
	@user.name = "sur"
	@user.validate_attributes(:only => ["name"]) # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Name is too short (minimum is 5 characters)"]
	@user.validate_attributes(:only => ["name", "email"]) # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Name is too short (minimum is 5 characters)", "Email can't be blank"]
	@user.validate_attributes # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Name is too short (minimum is 5 characters)", "Email can't be blank", "Address can't be blank"]
	
	@user = User.new
	@user.validate_attributes(:except => ["name", "email"]) # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Address can't be blank"]
	
	@user = User.new
	@user.validate_attributes(:only => ["address"]) # => false
	@user.errors.full_messages # =>  ["Address can't be blank"]

2.) validate_attributes_and_save

Parameters:
Same as the method validate_attributes

This method will save the object if the function validate_attributes returns true, and will return true if object gets saved else return false.

	@user = User.new
	@user.validate_attributes_and_save(:only => [:address]) # => false
	@user.new_record? # => true
	
	@user.address = "http://expressica.com"
	@user.validate_attributes_and_save(:only => [:address]) # => true
	@user.new_record? # => false

There is currently no advanced documentation for this plugin.