Allow validators to return strings instead of Error objects

README.md

@@ -103,13 +103,13 @@ Validators are functions that have the following signature:
 function(name, value, callback) {}
 ```
 
-The callback must be called with a falsy value (such as undefined or null) if the validation passes, or with an Error object with the appropriate error message if it fails validation.
+The callback must be called with a falsy value (such as undefined or null) if the validation passes, or with a string with the appropriate error message if it fails validation.
 
 A full validator example:
 
 ```js
 var required = function(name, value, callback) {
-  return callback(value ? undefined : new Error(name + ' is required'));
+  return callback(value ? undefined : name + ' is required');
 };
 
 name: {

lib/schemata.js

@@ -283,8 +283,10 @@ module.exports = function(schema) {
                 validator(propertyName, entityObject[key], validateCallback);
               }
             }, function(error) {
-              if (error && error.message) {
-                errors[key] = error.message;
+              if (error) {
+                // Backwards compatibility to allow Error objects to be
+                // returned from validators as well as just strings
+                errors[key] = error.message ? error.message : error;
               }
 
               seriesCallback(true);

test/schemata.test.js

@@ -525,6 +525,22 @@ describe('schemata', function() {
       //TODO:
     });
 
+    it('allows error response to be a string instead of Error object', function(done) {
+      var schema = createContactSchema()
+        ;
+
+      schema.schema.name.validators = {
+        all: [function(name, value, callback) {
+          return callback(value ? undefined : name + ' is required');
+        }]
+      };
+
+      schema.validate(schema.makeDefault({ name: '' }), function(errors) {
+        errors.should.eql({name:'Full Name is required'});
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
   });
 
   describe('#propertyName()', function() {