Laravel 'required' rule not working on Request - php

Question

I'm using laravel 5.5
I have a Request that I've built but the required rule is not working correctly.
Route
Route::get('v1/learning_centre/user/{userId}/course/list', 'API\LearningCentre#userCourses');
Controller
public function userCourses(GetUserCourses $request)
{
$courses = User::findOrFail($request->userId)
->courses()
->get();
return new CourseResourceCollection($courses);
}
Request
namespace App\Http\Requests\LearningCentre;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class GetUserCourses 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 [
'userId' => 'required|integer'
];
}
/**
* Get the error messages for the defined validation rules.
*
* #return array
*/
public function messages()
{
return [
'userId.required' => 'A User is required',
];
} }
If I turn off the required rule I can get to the controller. If I have the required rule in the request I get a 302. I am passing in a valid userId in phpunit. Without the request rules my code works as intended.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

You should be using route model binding to validate a required GET parameter in this situation, not a FormRequest class, which, as the name should indicate, are intended for form requests.
Your route:
Route::get('v1/learning_centre/user/{user}/course/list', 'API\LearningCentre#userCourses');
Your controller:
public function userCourses(User $user) {
If a user ID is missing (or an invalid one used), your controller will automatically throw a ModelNotFoundException, which Laravel by default returns as a 404.