Unique validator not firing with audit columns (populated using behaviors)

Yii 2.0 General Discussions
1

I have setup a unique constraints such as below

[['pname', 'created_by'], 'unique', 'targetAttribute' => ['pname', 'created_by'], 'message' => 'Project Name already in use'],

However, when the condition is met, instead of throwing an error message I get Database error - basically the validation is not firing. The debug logs show this SQL being executed to validate:

SELECT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sometable WHERE (pname='New Project') AND (created_by IS NULL))

I suppose the explanation here is that the behaviors (to populate created_by) kicks in after the validation, hence this exception is not handled gracefully. FYI, the created_by has a numeric value in the insert. Anyone else has thoughts or workarounds?

2

So, the uniqueness of the project name is per user, i.e., the project name can be the same when the created_by is different, right?
Then I think you have to populate created_by manually before validation.

3

Thanks @softark. Confirmed that populating manually is indeed the way to resolve this.