Customize Field Errors with Rails 5 and Bootstrap

customize_error.rb

# Adapted from https://rubyplus.com/articles/3401-Customize-Field-Error-in-Rails-5
ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = Proc.new do |html_tag, instance|
  html = ''

  form_fields = [
    'textarea',
    'input',
    'select'
  ]

  elements = Nokogiri::HTML::DocumentFragment.parse(html_tag).css "label, " + form_fields.join(', ')

  elements.each do |e|
    if e.node_name.eql? 'label'
      html = %(#{e}).html_safe
    elsif form_fields.include? e.node_name
      e['class'] += ' is-invalid'
      if instance.error_message.kind_of?(Array)
        html = %(#{e}<div class="invalid-feedback">#{instance.error_message.uniq.join(', ')}</div>).html_safe
      else
        html = %(#{e}<div class="invalid-feedback">#{instance.error_message}</div>).html_safe
      end
    end
  end
  html
end

I've create a custom initializer to have each field having its own errors below it

# app/config/initializers/bootstrap_form_errors_customizer.rb

ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  is_label_tag = html_tag =~ /^<label/
  class_attr_index = html_tag.index 'class="' 

  def format_error_message_to_html_list(error_msg)
    html_list_errors = "<ul></ul>"
    if error_msg.is_a?(Array)
      error_msg.each do |msg|
        html_list_errors.insert(-6,"<li>#{msg}</li>")
      end
    else 
      html_list_errors.insert(-6,"<li>#{msg}</li>")
    end
    html_list_errors
  end

  invalid_div =
    "<div class='invalid-feedback'>#{format_error_message_to_html_list(instance.error_message)}</div>"

  
  if class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(class_attr_index + 7, 'is-invalid ')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  elsif !class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(html_tag.index('>'), ' class="is-invalid"')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  else
    html_tag.html_safe
  end
end

Here's an alternative version to the bootstrap_form_errors_customizer.rb above for bootstrap 4.

• It assumes you're using form-control for inputs and textareas
• it sets the error message after the label if you're using form-check-label and form-check-input
• it only creates a html list if there's multiple errors

# app/config/initializers/bootstrap_form_errors_customizer.rb
ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  def invalid_feedback_msg(error_msg)
    if error_msg.is_a?(Array) && error_msg.size > 1
      html_list_errors = "<ul class='pl-3'></ul>"
      error_msg.each do |msg|
        html_list_errors.insert(-6,"<li>#{msg}</li>")
      end
      %{<div class='invalid-feedback'>#{html_list_errors}</div>}.html_safe
    elsif error_msg.is_a?(Array)
      %{<div class='invalid-feedback mb-1'>#{error_msg.first}</div>}.html_safe
    else
      %{<div class='invalid-feedback mb-1'>#{error_msg}</div>}.html_safe
    end
  end

  if html_tag =~ /^<label/
    if html_tag =~ /form-check-label/
      html_tag.html_safe + invalid_feedback_msg(instance.error_message)
    else
      html_tag.html_safe
    end
  else
    html_tag.gsub!("form-check-input", "form-check-input is-invalid")
    html_tag.gsub!("form-control", "form-control is-invalid")
    if html_tag =~ /form-check-input/
      html_tag.html_safe
    else
      html_tag.html_safe + invalid_feedback_msg(instance.error_message)
    end
  end
end

Here's my version, it's made to support MaterializeCss form fields for which you only need the correct classes, logic goes like this:

• Check if a class attribute is not present, then set the classes in the first space available and next the tag out of the proc (I believe this is called negative programming, dealing with edge cases first).
• Last blocks only execute if the class is present, in which case we replace the start of it with the same + the classes at the start and a space, then just return/next it at the end.

I've create a custom initializer to have each field having its own errors right below it

# app/config/initializers/bootstrap_form_errors_customizer.rb

ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  is_label_tag = html_tag =~ /^<label/
  class_attr_index = html_tag.index 'class="' 

  def format_error_message_to_html_list(error_msg)
    html_list_errors = "<ul></ul>"
    if error_msg.is_a?(Array)
      error_msg.each do |msg|
        html_list_errors.insert(-6,"<li>#{msg}</li>")
      end
    else 
      html_list_errors.insert(-6,"<li>#{msg}</li>")
    end
    html_list_errors
  end

  invalid_div =
    "<div class='invalid-feedback'>#{format_error_message_to_html_list(instance.error_message)}</div>"

  
  if class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(class_attr_index + 7, 'is-invalid ')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  elsif !class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(html_tag.index('>'), ' class="is-invalid"')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  else
    html_tag.html_safe
  end
end

guided me perfectly thank you very much @Ggs91

—-

I edited the code example to work with rails 6 and webpackered bootstrap 5

precisely: rails (6.1.3.2) and bootstrap@^5.0.1

# app/config/initializers/bootstrap_form_errors_customizer.rb

ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  is_label_tag = html_tag =~ /^<label/
  class_attr_index = html_tag.index 'class="'

  def format_error_message_to_html_list(error_msg)
    html_list_errors = '<ul></ul>'
    if error_msg.is_a?(Array) || error_msg.is_a?(ActiveModel::DeprecationHandlingMessageArray)
      error_msg.each do |msg|
        html_list_errors.insert(-6, "<li>#{msg}</li>")
      end
    else
      html_list_errors.insert(-6, "<li>#{msg}</li>")
    end
    html_list_errors
  end

  invalid_div =
    "<div class='invalid-feedback'>#{format_error_message_to_html_list(instance.error_message)}</div>"

  if class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(class_attr_index + 7, 'is-invalid ')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  elsif !class_attr_index && !is_label_tag
    html_tag.insert(html_tag.index('>'), ' class="is-invalid"')
    html_tag + invalid_div.html_safe
  else
    html_tag.html_safe
  end
end

and don't forget to restart rails server when tinkering with initializers 😎 like i did 🦀

Thanks @simonneutert I've reduce it even further:

ActionView::Base.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  def format_error_message_to_html_list(instance)
    messages = [*instance.error_message].map { |msg| "<li>#{msg}</li>" }
    return unless messages.present?

    "<div class='invalid-feedback'><ul>#{messages.join('')}</ul></div>"
  end
  html_tag + format_error_message_to_html_list(instance).html_safe
end

Is there a reason not to use Nokogiri (since it's a Rails dependency)? Maybe it's slower?
In Rails 7 I could reduce this whole String manipulation with RegExes with:

# config/application.rb
...

config.action_view.field_error_proc = proc do |html_tag, instance|
  input_tag = Nokogiri::HTML5::DocumentFragment.parse(html_tag).at_css('.form-control')
  if input_tag
    input_tag.add_class('is-invalid').to_s.html_safe
  else
    html_tag
  end    
end

Next step for me is adding the error messages on a sibling '.invalid-feedback' element.