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Resource $validate

The $validate operation checks whether a FHIR resource conforms to the base specification and any applicable profiles without actually creating or updating it. This is essential for catching data quality issues early, providing real-time feedback in forms, and testing integrations before committing data to the system.

Use Cases:

  • Form validation: Validate resources as users complete forms to provide immediate feedback on data entry errors before submission
  • Integration testing: Pre-validate incoming data from external systems to catch structural issues before attempting to persist records
  • Development and debugging: Test resource structures during development to ensure compliance with FHIR specifications and custom profiles
  • Two-phase commits: Check validity of proposed changes before executing transactions, enabling rollback-safe workflows

Medplum implements the FHIR $validate operation

This operation may be used during design and development to validate application design. It can also be used at run-time. One possible use might be that a client asks the server whether a proposed update is valid as the user is editing a dialog and displays an updated error to the user. The operation can be used as part of a light-weight two phase commit protocol but there is no expectation that the server will hold the content of the resource after this operation is used, or that the server guarantees to successfully perform an actual create, update or delete after the validation operation completes.

Invoke the validate operation​

[base]/[Resource]/$validate

For example:

curl 'https://api.medplum.com/fhir/R4/Patient/$validate' \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/fhir+json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer MY_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"resourceType":"Patient"}'

The MedplumClient TypeScript class provides a validateResource convenience method:

const result = await medplum.validateResource({
  resourceType: 'Patient',
  name: [{ given: ['Alice'], family: 'Smith' }],
});

Valid Response​

Example outcome when the resource is valid:

{
  "resourceType": "OperationOutcome",
  "id": "ok",
  "issue": [
    {
      "severity": "information",
      "code": "informational",
      "details": {
        "text": "All OK"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Invalid Response​

Example outcome when the resource is not valid:

{
  "resourceType": "OperationOutcome",
  "id": "3820fda7-c6d4-4207-b597-90631f0881f9",
  "issue": [
    {
      "severity": "error",
      "code": "structure",
      "details": { "text": "Invalid additional property \"Patient.foo\"" },
      "expression": ["Patient.foo"]
    }
  ]
}