fix(validation): preserve wildcard slice shape, nil traversal, and message priority

[hwbrzzl]

Summary

• Validated() for wildcard fields now returns the original slice shape ([]any, []int, etc.) instead of a string-keyed map, converting back to the typed source slice when safe.
• Dot-path traversal and wildcard expansion no longer panic on nil intermediates or typed slices; reflection-based traversal handles any slice element type.
• Explicit error message overrides now take priority over custom rule Message() defaults; integer, ucFirst, and lcFirst filter aliases are added.

Relate goravel/example#112

Why

Before this fix, validating any slice field with a wildcard rule (e.g. scores.*) caused Validated() to return map[string]any{"0": 1, "1": 2} instead of the original slice. Traversal through nil values or typed slices like []int also panicked during wildcard expansion.

// Before: data["scores"] was map[string]any{"0": 1, "1": 2}
// After:  data["scores"] is []int{1, 2}
validator, _ := validation.Make(ctx,
    map[string]any{"scores": []int{1, 2}},
    map[string]any{"scores.*": "required|integer"},
)
data := validator.Validated()
scores := data["scores"].([]int) // now works correctly

Custom rule Message() previously overrode any user-supplied message unconditionally, making per-field or per-rule message overrides impossible via WithMessages. The priority order is now: explicit field.rule message → explicit rule message → custom rule Message() default.

// Before: the custom rule's Message() was always used, ignoring WithMessages
// After:  the explicit WithMessages override takes priority
validator, _ := validation.Make(ctx,
    map[string]any{"user": nil},
    map[string]any{"user.name": "required"},
    validation.WithMessages(map[string]string{
        "user.name.required": "user.name is required",
    }),
)
errors := validator.Errors().Get("user.name")
// errors["required"] == "user.name is required"

[hwbrzzl]

Context for reviewers: the core behavioral change is Validated()/ValidatedData() now reconstructs wildcard paths using slice containers (including typed slices when safe), instead of map-like index keys. Existing non-wildcard and map-key behavior is preserved and covered by tests.

[hwbrzzl]

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 87.56477% with 24 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 67.98%. Comparing base (7cd523f) to head (d61a6cc).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on master.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
validation/filters.go	0.00%	15 Missing ⚠️
validation/utils.go	94.73%	5 Missing and 4 partials ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #1417      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   67.82%   67.98%   +0.16%     
==========================================
  Files         354      354              
  Lines       27345    27521     +176     
==========================================
+ Hits        18546    18710     +164     
- Misses       7952     7963      +11     
- Partials      847      848       +1     

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[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The changes enhance validated data handling to preserve original data types when expanding wildcard rules. ValidatedData() now populates results using shape-aware utilities and normalizes output through normalizeValidatedShape(). Reflection-based indexing in dotGet and collectKeys supports flexible slice/array handling. New utilities enable setting nested values while maintaining container shapes derived from source data.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Core validation engine validation/engine.go, validation/utils.go	Modified ValidatedData() to use setValidated() and normalizeValidatedShape() for shape-preserving output. Expanded dotGet and collectKeys with reflection-based slice/array indexing. Added setValidated, normalizeValidatedShape, and helper utilities to preserve source data types in validated results (e.g., typed []int instead of []any).
Engine tests validation/engine_test.go	Added TestEngine_ExpandWildcardRules_TypedSlice verifying wildcard rule expansion on typed slices, and tests asserting ValidatedData() reconstructs typed array fields and handles sparse wildcard indices with nil gaps.
Validation tests validation/rules_test.go, validation/utils_test.go, validation/validation_test.go	Updated TestValidatedDataWithWildcard with scenarios covering []any, typed []int, and nested objects. Added comprehensive tests for setValidated, slice-to-type conversion, string parsing helpers (strToInts, strToArray), map-key rules, and wildcard validation across different slice types.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• feat: add builtin validation rules and filters #1416: Directly overlaps with changes to validation/utils.go (dotGet/collectKeys, setValidated, normalizeValidatedShape, and wildcard/slice handling logic).

Poem

🐰 Wildcards bloom like clover in the validation field,
Typed slices dance where shapes are sealed,
No more casting chaos, just pristine arrays preserved,
The rabbits rejoice—each type gets what it deserved! 🎉

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 14.71% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title concisely captures the main behavioral change: preserving slice shape for wildcard-validated data, handling nil traversal, and managing message priority in validation output.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.

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✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch bowen/fix-validation

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 2

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Inline comments:
In `@validation/utils.go`:
- Around line 429-438: collectKeys currently calls reflect.ValueOf(v) without
guarding for nil, which panics for nullable leaves (e.g., map[string]any{"name":
nil} or []any{nil}); fix by checking for v == nil (or
reflect.ValueOf(v).IsValid() / rv.IsNil() when applicable) before using
rv.Kind() in collectKeys so nil leaves are treated as terminal values and not
recursed into, and add regression tests exercising DataBag.Keys()/collectKeys
with map[string]any{"name": nil} and []any{nil} to ensure no panic.
- Around line 117-123: dotGet currently calls reflect.ValueOf(data).Kind()
without guarding for nil/invalid values which can panic when an intermediate is
nil; update dotGet to first check for nil/invalid reflect.Value (e.g. rv :=
reflect.ValueOf(data); if !rv.IsValid() { return nil, false }) and also handle
nil interfaces/pointers by checking rv.IsNil() for kinds Interface/Ptr and
returning (nil, false) before calling Kind(), optionally unwrapping rv =
rv.Elem() for Interface/Ptr so subsequent logic (the slice/array branch) is
safe; refer to dotGet and the rv variable in utils.go when applying this change.

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 89f86b12-ee26-4e8c-95a4-4067153e52f6

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 7cd523f and c716996.

📒 Files selected for processing (6)

• validation/engine.go
• validation/engine_test.go
• validation/rules_test.go
• validation/utils.go
• validation/utils_test.go
• validation/validation_test.go

[h2zi]

lgtm