$validate

Introduction
The tool introduced by FHIR to provide a separate validation mechanism for 2-steps commit workflow or for development needs. It works for create, update and delete operations, is called using ?mode= query parameter with values create, update, delete but changes won't be committed. Instead a requester will get an OperationOutcome with information about validation results. See http://hl7.org/fhir/resource-operation-validate.html for the official documentation. 
#FHIR format endpoint:
POST /fhir/<resourceType>/$validate
POST /fhir/<resourceType>/<id>/$validate
​
#Aidbox format endpoint:
POST /<resourceType>/$validate
POST /<resourceType>/<id>/$validate
Such requests check the resource structure, internal business rules and return a list of problems if some exist.
200 OK — those requests always return status 200
Success and failure of a validation request is determined by id of OperationOutcome resource. allok and validationfail are self-descriptive.
$validate supports two ways to pass arguments:
By FHIR spec it receives a Parameters resource as a body:
POST .../$validate
​
resourceType: Parameters
parameter:
- name: mode
  value: {string: <mode>}
- name: profile
  value: {uri: <StructureDefinition.url>}
- name: esource
  resource: <resource>
​
Parameters are specified in query string; body is the resource to validate:
POST .../$validate?mode=<mode>&profile=<StructureDefinition.url>
​
<resource>
Parameter
Description
resourceType
Required. Type of the resource which needs validation
id
Optional for mode=create. Can either be passed in the resource body or be specified in the route params
resource
Optional for mode=delete, required otherwise. Resource to be validated
mode
Optional. Default is create. Possible values are create, update, delete, patch
profile
Optional. Can be passed multiple times. Used to validate with specific profiles.
Value should be StructureDefinition.url of the profile defined as zen schema​
mode
Description
create
Ignores errors about attributesid & lastUpdated being required
update
Validates without ignoring errors about attributesid & lastUpdated
delete
Checks if resource with such id exists in Aidbox
patch
Merges the existing resource to the received resource and then validates as update.
Patching strategy will be determined as described here​
merge-patch
simple deep merge semantics (read more in RFC)
json-patch
 advanced JSON transformation (read more in RFC)
Examples
Validation Success
Request contains valid Patient resource inside the body.
# Request:
POST /fhir/Patient/$validate?mode=create
​
name: [{given: [John]}]
​
# Response
HTTP 200 OK
​
id: allok
resourceType: OperationOutcome
issue:
- {severity: informational, code: informational, diagnostics: all ok}
Request contains same valid Patient resource and passed as Parameters.
# Request:
POST /fhir/Patient/$validate
​
resourceType: Parameters
parameter:
- name: mode
  value: {string: create}
- name: resource
  resource: {name: [{given: [John]}]}
​
​
# Response
HTTP 200 OK
​
id: allok
resourceType: OperationOutcome
issue:
- {severity: informational, code: informational, diagnostics: all ok}
Validation Failure
Patient name must be an array, test is a non-existing field.
# Request:
POST /fhir/Patient/$validate?mode=create
​
name: "Bob"
test: "foo"
​
# Response
HTTP 200 OK
​
id: validationfail
resourceType: OperationOutcome
text: {status: generated, div: Invalid resource}
issue:
- severity: fatal
  code: invalid
  expression: [Patient.name]
  diagnostics: expected array
- severity: fatal
  code: invalid
  expression: [Patient.test]
  diagnostics: extra property
​
Request contains same invalid Patient resource and passed as Parameters.
# Request:
POST /fhir/Patient/$validate?mode=create
​
name: "Bob"
test: "foo"
​
# Response
HTTP 200 OK
​
resourceType: Parameters
parameter:
- name: mode
  value: {string: create}
- name: resource
  resource: {name: Bob, test: foo}

API - Previous

FHIR API

Last updated 3 weeks ago

Parameter	Description
`resourceType`	Required. Type of the resource which needs validation
`id`	Optional for `mode`=`create`. Can either be passed in the resource body or be specified in the route params
`resource`	Optional for `mode`=`delete`, required otherwise. Resource to be validated
`mode`	Optional. Default is `create`. Possible values are `create, update, delete, patch`
`profile`	Optional. Can be passed multiple times. Used to validate with specific profiles. Value should be `StructureDefinition.url` of the profile defined as zen schema

`mode`	Description
`create`	Ignores errors about attributes`id` & `lastUpdated` being required
`update`	Validates without ignoring errors about attributes`id` & `lastUpdated`
`delete`	Checks if resource with such `id` exists in Aidbox
`patch`	Merges the existing resource to the received resource and then validates as `update`. Patching strategy will be determined as described here
`merge-patch`	simple deep merge semantics (read more in RFC)
`json-patch`	advanced JSON transformation (read more in RFC)