laravel-validation-patterns

Laravel Validation Patterns

Form Request Classes (Standard Approach)

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;

class StoreOrderRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function authorize(): bool
    {
        return $this->user()->can('create', Order::class);
    }

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'customer_id' => ['required', 'exists:customers,id'],
            'items' => ['required', 'array', 'min:1'],
            'items.*.product_id' => ['required', 'exists:products,id'],
            'items.*.quantity' => ['required', 'integer', 'min:1'],
            'notes' => ['nullable', 'string', 'max:500'],
        ];
    }

    public function messages(): array
    {
        return [
            'items.required' => 'At least one item is required.',
            'items.*.product_id.exists' => 'Product #:position does not exist.',
        ];
    }

    protected function prepareForValidation(): void
    {
        $this->merge([
            'notes' => strip_tags($this->notes),
            'email' => strtolower($this->email),
        ]);
    }

    public function after(): array
    {
        return [
            function (\Illuminate\Validation\Validator $validator) {
                if ($this->hasExceededOrderLimit()) {
                    $validator->errors()->add('items', 'You have exceeded the daily order limit.');
                }
            },
        ];
    }
}

Custom Rule Objects

<?php

namespace App\Rules;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\ValidationRule;

class StrongPassword implements ValidationRule
{
    public function validate(string $attribute, mixed $value, Closure $fail): void
    {
        if (! preg_match('/[A-Z]/', $value)) {
            $fail('The :attribute must contain at least one uppercase letter.');
        }

        if (! preg_match('/[0-9]/', $value)) {
            $fail('The :attribute must contain at least one number.');
        }
    }
}

// Usage in rules
'password' => ['required', 'string', 'min:8', new StrongPassword],