fix: resolve issue #1403 - Validate Start and End Date Order for Hackathons

[sonusharma6-dsa]

Closes #1403

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Enhanced hackathon creation validation to prevent end dates from being set earlier than start dates, avoiding invalid scheduling configurations.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: caf6e649-1a0b-4d96-b03b-2bd4ce28a378

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between e15a36c and 8313187.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• server/src/module/admin/admin.validation.ts
• server/src/module/ats/__tests__/ats.service.test.ts

---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR adds date-ordering validation to hackathon creation and refactors test mock syntax in the ATS service tests. The first change enforces that event end dates cannot be earlier than start dates; the second updates mock implementations across three test cases to use explicit function syntax without altering test behavior.

Changes

Hackathon Date Validation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Date ordering validation in hackathon schema server/src/module/admin/admin.validation.ts	createHackathonSchema now includes a Zod .refine() constraint that validates endDate >= startDate, with a custom error message targeted at the endDate field.

ATS Service Test Mock Refactoring

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Mock implementation style updates server/src/module/ats/__tests__/ats.service.test.ts	Three test cases (mockValidPdf helper, scoreResume, and applySuggestions) refactor PDFParse mock implementations from arrow-function return form to explicit function () { return {...} } style. No test assertions or behaviors change.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~8 minutes

Possibly related issues

• fix: Validate Start and End Date Order for Hackathons #1402: Directly related; both changes modify createHackathonSchema to add the same Zod refinement validating startDate <= endDate order.

Poem

🐰 Dates now march in proper order,
Start before the end, no more disorder!
Mocks reshape their graceful stance,
Tests still pass their rightful dance. ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The PR description is incomplete; it references the linked issue but lacks required sections like detailed description, testing information, and proper checklist completion.	Expand the description to include a detailed explanation of changes, testing methodology, and ensure all checklist items are properly addressed.
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: adding date order validation for hackathons, matching the primary objective of this PR.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The code changes directly implement the requirement from issue #1403: adding a .refine() validation to createHackathonSchema that ensures startDate is before or equal to endDate.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Changes include the required date validation fix plus test mock refactoring for Vitest; the test changes are supportive and not out of scope for resolving the issue.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[github-actions]

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[Sachinchaurasiya360]

Code Review — PR #1404: Validate hackathon start/end date order

Hi @sonusharma6-dsa, the validation logic is correct for the create path. Found one issue with how the partial schema inherits the refine.

---

🔴 updateHackathonSchema.partial() inherits the date refine — crashes when only one date field is provided

export const createHackathonSchema = z.object({
  startDate: z.string().datetime(),
  endDate: z.string().datetime(),
  ...
}).refine(
  (data) => new Date(data.startDate) <= new Date(data.endDate),
  { message: "End date cannot be before start date", path: ["endDate"] }
);

export const updateHackathonSchema = createHackathonSchema.partial();

When .partial() is applied to a ZodEffects (which is what .refine() returns), the refine function still runs on the parsed data — but now startDate and endDate can each be undefined. Inside the refine:

new Date(data.startDate)  // → new Date(undefined) → Invalid Date

Invalid Date <= Invalid Date evaluates to false, so the refine always fails for any PATCH request that doesn't include both dates. A recruiter trying to update only the hackathon title, location, or any other field will get "End date cannot be before start date" even though they never touched the dates.

Fix: Guard the refine for the undefined case:

export const createHackathonSchema = z.object({ ... }).refine(
  (data) => {
    if (!data.startDate || !data.endDate) return true;  // partial update — skip check
    return new Date(data.startDate) <= new Date(data.endDate);
  },
  { message: "End date cannot be before start date", path: ["endDate"] }
);

This makes the refine a no-op when either date is absent, which is the correct behavior for partial updates.

[sonusharma6-dsa]

Code Review — PR #1404: Validate hackathon start/end date order

Hi @sonusharma6-dsa, the validation logic is correct for the create path. Found one issue with how the partial schema inherits the refine.

🔴 updateHackathonSchema.partial() inherits the date refine — crashes when only one date field is provided

export const createHackathonSchema = z.object({
  startDate: z.string().datetime(),
  endDate: z.string().datetime(),
  ...
}).refine(
  (data) => new Date(data.startDate) <= new Date(data.endDate),
  { message: "End date cannot be before start date", path: ["endDate"] }
);

export const updateHackathonSchema = createHackathonSchema.partial();

When .partial() is applied to a ZodEffects (which is what .refine() returns), the refine function still runs on the parsed data — but now startDate and endDate can each be undefined. Inside the refine:

new Date(data.startDate)  // → new Date(undefined) → Invalid Date

Invalid Date <= Invalid Date evaluates to false, so the refine always fails for any PATCH request that doesn't include both dates. A recruiter trying to update only the hackathon title, location, or any other field will get "End date cannot be before start date" even though they never touched the dates.

Fix: Guard the refine for the undefined case:

export const createHackathonSchema = z.object({ ... }).refine(
  (data) => {
    if (!data.startDate || !data.endDate) return true;  // partial update — skip check
    return new Date(data.startDate) <= new Date(data.endDate);
  },
  { message: "End date cannot be before start date", path: ["endDate"] }
);

This makes the refine a no-op when either date is absent, which is the correct behaviour for partial updates.

I resolved it. Thanks for the suggestion.