New course cannot be started till web certificate is active

fixed broken test

changes based on feedback on 6/24

fixed broken unit test after feedback changes

added more checks and updated tests

fixed broken bok choy test

Fixed pylint quality error

trying to fix pylint quality error

cms/static/js/models/settings/course_details.js

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-define(["backbone", "underscore", "gettext", "js/models/validation_helpers"],
-    function(Backbone, _, gettext, ValidationHelpers) {
+define(["backbone", "underscore", "gettext", "js/models/validation_helpers", "js/utils/date_utils"],
+    function(Backbone, _, gettext, ValidationHelpers, DateUtils) {
 
 var CourseDetails = Backbone.Model.extend({
     defaults: {
@@ -28,14 +28,21 @@ var CourseDetails = Backbone.Model.extend({
         // Returns either nothing (no return call) so that validate works or an object of {field: errorstring} pairs
         // A bit funny in that the video key validation is asynchronous; so, it won't stop the validation.
         var errors = {};
+        newattrs = DateUtils.convertDateStringsToObjects(
+            newattrs, ["start_date", "end_date", "enrollment_start", "enrollment_end"]
+        );
+
         if (newattrs.start_date === null) {
             errors.start_date = gettext("The course must have an assigned start date.");
         }
+        if (this.hasChanged("start_date") && this.get("has_cert_config") === false){
+            errors.start_date = gettext("The course must have at least one active certificate configuration before it can be started.");
+        }
         if (newattrs.start_date && newattrs.end_date && newattrs.start_date >= newattrs.end_date) {
-            errors.end_date = gettext("The course end date cannot be before the course start date.");
+            errors.end_date = gettext("The course end date must be later than the course start date.");
         }
         if (newattrs.start_date && newattrs.enrollment_start && newattrs.start_date < newattrs.enrollment_start) {
-            errors.enrollment_start = gettext("The course start date cannot be before the enrollment start date.");
+            errors.enrollment_start = gettext("The course start date must be later than the enrollment start date.");
         }
         if (newattrs.enrollment_start && newattrs.enrollment_end && newattrs.enrollment_start >= newattrs.enrollment_end) {
             errors.enrollment_end = gettext("The enrollment start date cannot be after the enrollment end date.");

cms/static/js/spec/views/settings/main_spec.js

@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ define([
                 entrance_exam_enabled : '',
                 entrance_exam_minimum_score_pct: '50',
                 license: null,
-                language: ''
+                language: '',
+                has_cert_config: false
             },
             mockSettingsPage = readFixtures('mock/mock-settings-page.underscore');
 
@@ -71,6 +72,13 @@ define([
             );
         });
 
+        it('Changing course start date without active certificate configuration should result in error', function () {
+            this.view.$el.find('#course-start-date')
+                .val('10/06/2014')
+                .trigger('change');
+            expect(this.view.$el.find('span.message-error').text()).toContain("course must have at least one active certificate configuration");
+        });
+
         it('Selecting a course in pre-requisite drop down should save it as part of course details', function () {
             var pre_requisite_courses = ['test/CSS101/2012_T1'];
             var requests = AjaxHelpers.requests(this),

cms/static/js/utils/date_utils.js

@@ -35,9 +35,29 @@ define(["jquery", "date", "jquery.ui", "jquery.timepicker"], function($, date) {
         );
     };
 
+    var parseDateFromString = function(stringDate){
+        if (stringDate && typeof stringDate === "string"){
+            return new Date(stringDate);
+        }
+        else {
+            return stringDate;
+        }
+    };
+
+    var convertDateStringsToObjects = function(obj, dateFields){
+        for (var i = 0; i < dateFields.length; i++){
+            if (obj[dateFields[i]]){
+                obj[dateFields[i]] = parseDateFromString(obj[dateFields[i]]);
+            }
+        }
+        return obj;
+    };
+
     return {
         getDate: getDate,
         setDate: setDate,
-        renderDate: renderDate
+        renderDate: renderDate,
+        convertDateStringsToObjects: convertDateStringsToObjects,
+        parseDateFromString: parseDateFromString
     };
 });