Data validation

Introduction

Forms and data validation can be achieved easily using Glowie Validator class.

From your controller, create a new instance of Glowie\Core\Tools\Validator using:

use Glowie\Core\Tools\Validator;
$validator = new Validator();

Validation rules

To validate data you must specify which validation rules will be applied to that item or array of items. The current available rules are:

required
Validates if an item is not null. If the item is an array, this will check if it's not empty. In case of strings, it will check if the trimmed string is not empty.

min:value
Validates if an item is equal or bigger than a specified value. In case of numeric values it will check it's value. In strings it will check the string length. In arrays, it will check the amount of items.

max:value
Validates if an item is equal or less than a specified value. In case of numeric values it will check it's value. In strings it will check the string length. In arrays, it will check the amount of items.

size:value
Validates if an item size equals a specified value. In case of numeric values it will check it's value. In strings it will check the string length. In arrays, it will check the amount of items.

email
Validates if a string corresponds to a valid email address.

url
Validates if a string corresponds to a valid URL address.

alpha
Validates if a string only has alphabetic characters. Valid ranges are [a-zA-Z].

numeric
Validates if an item is a number or a numeric string.

alphanumeric
Validates if a string only has alphanumeric characters. Valid ranges are [a-zA-Z0-9].

alphadash
Validates if a string only has alphanumeric, dashes or underscore characters. Valid ranges are [a-zA-Z0-9-_].

regex:pattern
Validates if a string matches a regex pattern.

array
Validates if an item is an array.

assoc
Validates if an item is an associative array.

date
Validates if a string is a valid date format.

string
Validates if an item is a string.

integer
Validates if an item is integer.

float
Validates if an item is a float.

file
Validates if a path is an existing file.

upload
Validates if an item is a valid uploaded file through HTTP POST (see File uploads).

directory
Validates if a path is an existing directory.

mime:types
Validates if a file matches a list of mime types. You can use multiple mimes separating them with commas.

writable
Validates if a path is a writable directory or file.

object
Validates if an item is an object.

boolean
Validates if an item is a boolean.

true
Validates if an item is a truthy value.

false
Validates if an item is a falsy value.

json
Validates if an item is a valid JSON string.

value:value
Validates if an item has the exact specified value.

not:value
Validates if an item does not have the exact specified value.

empty
Validates if an item is empty. In case of arrays, this will check if it's an empty array. In strings, it will check if the string is empty.

endswith:value
Validates if a string ends with a specified string.

startswith:value
Validates if a string starts with a specified string.

custom:name
Validates an item using a custom validation rule (see below).

Valiation rules parameters

While using rules that accepts parameters (like min, max, value, startswith, etc.) you should set the validation rule along with : followed by the value you want.

Example

$rules = ['min:8', 'max:16'] # validate item with minimum of 8 and maximum of 16

Validating a single item

In order to validate a single item, use $validator->validate(). You must specify the item as the first parameter, and an array of rules as the second parameter.

Optionally you can also set a bail option as the third parameter. If this option is set to true, the validation will stop after the first failure found. If false, all validation rules will be tested and all failures will be returned.

This method will return true if the item is validated properly or false if not.

Example

$data = 'myemail@hotmail.com';
$rules = ['required', 'string', 'email'];
$isValid = $validator->validate($data, $rules); # returns true

Validating multiple items

In order to validate multiple items with the same rules for all of them, use $validator->validateMultiple(). You must specify an array of items as the first parameter and an array of rules as the second parameter.

Optionally you can also set a bail option as the third parameter. This works exactly as described in validate(), but applies to a single item validation.

Besides that, you can also optionally set a bailAll option as the fouth parameter. If this option is set to true, the validation of all items will stop after the first failure found in an item. If false, the validation of other items will continue normally after any failures found.

This method will return true if all items were validated properly or false if any failures.

Example

$data = ['myemail@hotmail.com', 'test'];
$rules = ['required', 'string', 'email'];
$isValid = $validator->validateMultiple($data, $rules); # returns false

Validating form fields

In order to validate multiple items with specific rules for each item, use $validator->validateFields(). You must specify an associative array with all fields keys and values as the first parameter and an associative array of arrays with rules for each field as the second parameter. Both parameters must have the same keys for all fields.

You can optionally set a bail and bailAll option as the third and fourth parameters. Those options works the same as described in validateMultiple().

This method will return true if all fields were validated properly or false if any failures.

Example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Glowie',
    'address' => ''
];

$rules = [
    'name' => ['required', 'string'],
    'address' => ['required']
];

$isValid = $validator->validateFields($data, $rules); # returns false

Retrieving validation errors

After running a validation, all validation failures can be retrieved through $validator->getErrors(). This method will return an associative array of fields or items (with each field/item being a key) and an array of failing rule names.

You can use this method to handle specific errors or show messages to the user based in a specific invalid field or item.

Example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Glowie',
    'email' => ''
];

$rules = [
    'name' => ['required'],
    'email' => ['required', 'email']
];

$isValid = $validator->validateFields($data, $rules); # returns false
$errors = $validator->getErrors();

/*
    returns:
    [
        'email' => ['required', 'email']
    ]
*/

You can also pass an item or field key as the first parameter of this function to retrieve the validation errors for the unique item.

Example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Glowie',
    'email' => ''
];

$rules = [
    'name' => ['required'],
    'email' => ['required', 'email']
];

$isValid = $validator->validateFields($data, $rules); # returns false
$errors = $validator->getErrors('name'); # returns []

You can also check for an specific item and rule by using the $validator->hasError() method. The first parameter is the item/field to check, and the second the rule you want to check. You can leave empty to check for all rules of that item.

Example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Glowie',
    'email' => ''
];

$rules = [
    'name' => ['required'],
    'email' => ['required', 'email']
];

$isValid = $validator->validateFields($data, $rules); # returns false
$hasError = $validator->hasError('email', 'required'); # returns true

Setting custom rules

You can create a custom validation rule by using the static Validator::setCustomRule() method. The rule will be persisted through all Validator instances and can be reused anywhere.

The first parameter is the custom rule name, and the second must be a Closure function that receives the data as the first parameter and returns a boolean if valid.

Example

Validator::setCustomRule('even', function($data){
    return $data % 2 == 0;
});

$isValid = $validator->validate(8, ['custom:even']); # returns true