From 580165b33b0d0690909323780e6beb742928dfdc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lenny <lenny@knighthacks.org>
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2026 16:27:46 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix forms character counts to ignore whitespace

---
 .../forms/question-response-card.tsx          |  7 +++--
 packages/api/src/routers/forms.ts             | 12 +++++++--
 packages/utils/src/forms.ts                   | 26 ++++++++++++++-----
 3 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/blade/src/app/_components/forms/question-response-card.tsx b/apps/blade/src/app/_components/forms/question-response-card.tsx
index 5d2a9bd9a..9caee613c 100644
--- a/apps/blade/src/app/_components/forms/question-response-card.tsx
+++ b/apps/blade/src/app/_components/forms/question-response-card.tsx
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import { api } from "~/trpc/react";
 
 type FormQuestion = z.infer<typeof FORMS.QuestionValidator>;
 
+const countNonWhitespaceCharacters = (value: string) =>
+  value.replace(/\s/g, "").length;
+
 interface QuestionResponseCardProps {
   question: FormQuestion;
   value?: string | string[] | number | Date | boolean | null;
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ function QuestionBody({
     case "SHORT_ANSWER": {
       const currentValue = (value as string) || "";
       const maxLength = 150;
-      const charCount = currentValue.length;
+      const charCount = countNonWhitespaceCharacters(currentValue);
       const isOverLimit = charCount > maxLength;
 
       return (
@@ -138,7 +141,7 @@ function QuestionBody({
     case "PARAGRAPH": {
       const currentValue = (value as string) || "";
       const maxLength = 750;
-      const charCount = currentValue.length;
+      const charCount = countNonWhitespaceCharacters(currentValue);
       const isOverLimit = charCount > maxLength;
 
       return (
diff --git a/packages/api/src/routers/forms.ts b/packages/api/src/routers/forms.ts
index 9e4a46ee8..96370b70f 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/routers/forms.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/routers/forms.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import type { TRPCRouterRecord } from "@trpc/server";
-import type { JSONSchema7 } from "json-schema";
 import { TRPCError } from "@trpc/server";
 import { and, count, desc, eq, inArray, lt, sql } from "drizzle-orm";
 import jsonSchemaToZod from "json-schema-to-zod";
@@ -154,6 +153,15 @@ export const formsRouter = {
         minioClient,
       );
 
+      const jsonSchema = forms.generateJsonSchema(formData);
+
+      if (!jsonSchema.success) {
+        throw new TRPCError({
+          message: jsonSchema.msg,
+          code: "BAD_REQUEST",
+        });
+      }
+
       return {
         ...retForm,
         responseRoleIds: responseRoles.map((r) => r.roleId),
@@ -161,7 +169,7 @@ export const formsRouter = {
           ...formData,
           instructions: instructionsWithFreshUrls,
         },
-        zodValidator: jsonSchemaToZod(form.formValidatorJson as JSONSchema7),
+        zodValidator: jsonSchemaToZod(jsonSchema.schema),
       };
     }),
 
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/forms.ts b/packages/utils/src/forms.ts
index 68e67dd5d..ba05425b2 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/forms.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/forms.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@ type OptionalSchema =
   | { success: true; schema: JSONSchema7 }
   | { success: false; msg: string };
 
+function createNonWhitespaceLengthPattern(min?: number, max?: number) {
+  if (min === undefined && max === undefined) return undefined;
+
+  const lowerBound = min ?? 0;
+  const upperBound = max ?? "";
+
+  return `^(?:\\s*\\S){${lowerBound},${upperBound}}\\s*$`;
+}
+
 function createJsonSchemaValidator({
   optional,
   type,
@@ -30,12 +39,16 @@ function createJsonSchemaValidator({
 
   switch (type) {
     case "SHORT_ANSWER":
-    case "PARAGRAPH":
+    case "PARAGRAPH": {
       schema.type = "string";
-      if (max === undefined) {
-        schema.maxLength = type === "SHORT_ANSWER" ? 150 : 750;
-      }
+      const maxNonWhitespaceLength =
+        max ?? (type === "SHORT_ANSWER" ? 150 : 750);
+      schema.pattern = createNonWhitespaceLengthPattern(
+        min,
+        maxNonWhitespaceLength,
+      );
       break;
+    }
     case "EMAIL":
       schema.type = "string";
       schema.format = "email";
@@ -93,7 +106,8 @@ function createJsonSchemaValidator({
   }
 
   if (min !== undefined) {
-    if (schema.type === "string") schema.minLength = min;
+    if (schema.type === "string" && schema.pattern === undefined)
+      schema.minLength = min;
     if (schema.type === "array") schema.minItems = min;
     if (schema.type === "number") schema.minimum = min;
   } else {
@@ -101,7 +115,7 @@ function createJsonSchemaValidator({
   }
 
   if (max !== undefined) {
-    if (schema.type === "string") {
+    if (schema.type === "string" && schema.pattern === undefined) {
       // Explicit max value overrides any defaults
       schema.maxLength = max;
     }