Conditional validation based on column which may be nil

Question

I am attempting to do a conditional validation in a active record model.

Basically, I am attempting is presence_of date should be there if the bill_due_amount is greater than zero else if bill_due_amount== zero then validation of date is not required. right now I can think of this.

validates_presence_of :next_fup_date, :if => :check_due_amount_of_bill

def check_due_amount_of_bill
  self.bill_due_amount >= 1
end

I am getting the error as

undefined method `>=' for nil:NilClass

How exactly can I do this conditional validation?

Answer 1

The problem is that bill_due_amount is nil. So in your method you have to check for nil first and then >= 1:

def check_due_amount_of_bill
  self.bill_due_amount.present? && self.bill_due_amount >= 1
end