Laravel middleware cancel request and keep page in same state - php

Question

Here's my current issue.
At the moment, I have a page with elements that can be added in and appended via AJAX. These elements contain forms, image uploads etc.
I have a middleware on my entire application that checks the size of any image being uploaded at any given time and makes sure its under 5MB (image validation for each image upload on the application is not an option, it has to be 1 controller that maintains all image upload validation).
If the request detects an image thats over 5MB, it will run this code
return redirect()->back()->withInput($request->all())->withErrors(array('Image' => 'Sorry, ' . $file->getClientOriginalName() . ' is too large, maximum file size is 5MB. Please reduce the size of your image!'));
This code is very temperamental, and heres why.
I need the page to be in the EXACT same state i left it in, when its returned. That means all AJAX loaded elements, all images, everything needs to be in the same state, so redirect()->back()->withInput($request->all()) doesn't work, because it still refreshes the page and removes everything loaded appended and added in that instance.
I need to be able to cancel the request if it fails.
In plain english, When this middleware is ran, detect all images. If there is an image that is over 5MB, do not refresh the page or anything. Just error
I know this seems silly, because the request cannot pass something back without refreshing, but I thought id ask / open to suggestions.
Here's my middleware
<?php
namespace App\Http\Middleware;
use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\UploadedFile;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
class ImageInterceptor
{
/**
* Handle an incoming request.
*
* #param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
* #param \Closure $next
* #return mixed
*/
public function handle($request, Closure $next)
{
foreach (array_filter(array_flatten($request->files->all())) as $file) {
//Check if the file being uploaded is not a csv
if($file->getClientOriginalExtension() != 'csv'){
$filename = $file->getClientOriginalName();
$size = $file->getClientSize(); // size in bytes!
$onemb = pow(1024, 2);
if ($size > $onemb * 5) {
//Return back, image is too big!
return redirect()->back()->withInput($request->all())->withErrors(array('Image' => 'Sorry, ' . $file->getClientOriginalName() . ' is too large, maximum file size is 5MB. Please reduce the size of your image!'));
}
}
}
return $next($request);
}
}

Answer 1

If you plan on having the page on the same state, then you can't tell it to redirect backwards with errors, you would have to return an array, or string, or whatever is your needs. By saying redirect backwards, it's telling the browser where to navigate.
About maintaining the inputs, you can try something among these lines:
<input type="text" name="firstname" id="firstname" class="form-control" value="{{ $user->firstname or old('firstname') }}">
Why don't you create a form request? I really doubt you need that validation for every page you require. Middleware, in my opinion, should handle authentication and authorization .
A formrequest would be something like:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class Example extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* #return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}
/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* #return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
'photo' => 'required|mimes:jpeg,bmp,png|size:5000'
];
}
}
And on your controller, you just place a argument on the function (instead of Request $request, you place Example $request). This way, you can access every request information that Illuminate has plus your own validation.
https://laravel.com/docs/5.2/validation#rule-mimetypes