Data Validation

Incoming data is always automatically validated based on the endpoint parameters if any.

Auto-validation only ensures that the request matches the desired model structure, if the data itself is valid or not still needs to be validated by the developer.

Take the following controller code that handles logic for a simple todo app:

<?php
namespace App\Modules\TodoList\Controllers;

use Dominus\System\Controller;
use Dominus\System\Attributes\Entrypoint;
use Dominus\System\Attributes\RequestMethod;

#[Entrypoint('list')]
class TodoListController extends Controller
{
    #[RequestMethod('GET')]
    public function list() {} // retrieves the todo items
    public function add() {} // adds items to the list
}

To validate our todo entries, we will use the Dominus\Services\Validator service to help us.

We start by injecting the Dominus\Services\Validator service in our add method, then use the validate method to validate the data using the given rules. The validate method accepts an array of the form:

<?php
$invalidFields = $validator->validate($data, [
    'request_field' => 'date|date_after:tomorrow'
]);

Multiple rules on the same field are run in order and throws an exception to the first rule that has an error (to prevent this set the ->validate method $bailOnFirstError argument to false).

<?php
namespace App\Modules\TodoList\Controllers;

use App\Modules\TodoList\Models\FormDataModel;
use Dominus\System\Controller;
use Dominus\Services\Validator;

class TodoListController extends Controller
{
    public function add(
        FormDataModel $data,
        Validator $validator
    )
    {
        // If the 3rd parameter is set to false then $validator->validate 
        // throws an exception instead of returning an array of fields that failed 1 or more rules
        $invalidFields = $validator->validate($data, [
            'title' => 'min_length:3|max_length:120',
            'description' => 'max_length:255',
            'completedOn' => 'nullable|date'
        ]);

        if($invalidFields)
        {
            // $invalidFields contains the fields that did not pass validation and the corresponding rules that failed.
            // For example, if the description is too long, we will have: ['description' => ['max_length']]
            var_dump($invalidFields);
        }   
    }
}

Data model validation

You can also validate data model properties when they are mapped from the Request object.

Let's take our FormDataModel from the previous example and setup some validation for its properties:

<?php
namespace App\Modules\TodoList\Models;

use Dominus\System\Attributes\DataModel\Validate;
use Dominus\System\Attributes\DataModel\Optional;

class FormDataModel
{
    #[Validate('min_length:3|max_length:120')]
    public string $title;

    #[Validate('max_length:255')]
    public string $desription;

    #[Optional]
    #[Validate('date')]
    public ?DateTimeImmutable $completedOn;
}

Available validation rules

Below is a list of all the available validation rules.

Rules are separated using the pipe character |

Rule arguments are separated by a semicolon: :.

Example: min_length:5|max_length:200

min_length
max_length
in_list
not_in_list
true
not_equals
equals
required
email
date
date_equals
date_after
date_after_or_equal
date_before
date_before_or_equal

min_length

min_length:[length]

Verifies that the field string length is greater than or equal to the given length.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] the minimum length. Example: min_length:10

max_length

max_length:[length]

Verifies that the field string length is less than or equal to the given length.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] the maximum length. Example: min_length:200

in_list

in_list:comma, separated, items

Verifies that the field value is contained in the given list.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] A list of items to check the validated field against. Example: in_list:item1, item2, item3

not_in_list

not_in_list:comma, separated, items

Verifies that the field value is not contained in the given list.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] A list of items to check the validated field against. Example: in_list:item1, item2, item3

is_true

is_true

Verifies that the field value has a true boolean value.

is_false

is_false

Verifies that the field value has a false boolean value.

equals

equals:[value]

Verifies that the field value equals the provided static value.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] The value to check the validated field against. Example: equals:27

not_equals

not_equals:[value]

Verifies that the field value does not equal the provided static value.

Positional Arguments: * [Required] The value to check the validated field against. Example: not_equals:27

email

email

Verifies if the email is well formatted, uses php's filter_var function. If you need more advanced validation, you may want to use a custom validator.

required

required

Verifies that the field exists and is not empty.

date

date:[format]

The validated field value will be verified by using the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] format to validate against. Example: date:Y-m-d

date_equals

date_equals:[datetime]:[format]

The validated field must be equal to the given date. The dates will be parsed and validated by the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] a string that can be parsed by the PHP strtotime function. Example: date_equals:+2 days * [Optional] compares the dates using the given date format. Example: date_equals:+2 days:Y-m-d H\:i

date_after

date_after:[datetime]

The validated field must be a value after the given date. The dates will be parsed and validated by the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] a string that can be parsed by the PHP strtotime function. Example: date_after:now

date_after_or_equal

date_after_or_equal:[datetime]

The validated field must be a value after or equal to the given date. The dates will be parsed and validated by the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] a string that can be parsed by the PHP strtotime function. Example: date_after_or_equal:2027-06-07

date_before

date_before:[datetime]

The validated field must be a value preceding the given date. The dates will be parsed and validated by the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] a string that can be parsed by the PHP strtotime function. Example: date_before:2002-06-07

date_before_or_equal

date_before_or_equal:[datetime]

The validated field must be a value preceding or equal to the given date. The dates will be parsed and validated by the PHP strtotime function.

Positional Arguments: * [Optional] a string that can be parsed by the PHP strtotime function. Example: date_before_or_equal:2002-06-07