Laravel validating space character always failed - php

Question

Trying to validate if there are only spaces in input box.
This is my validations:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Validator;
use App\Rules\allAreSpaces;
class StoreUser 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 [
'email' => 'required|email|max:64',
'phone' => 'bail|required|numeric|phone_min|phone_max|unique:users|not_in:0',
'password' => [new allAreSpaces, 'required', 'min:8', 'max:16', 'confirmed'],
'password_confirmation' => 'required',
];
}
public function messages()
{
return [
'email.required' => 'Email address cannot be empty',
'email.email' => 'Enter a valid Email address',
'email.max' => 'Email address cannot exceed 64 characters',
'email.unique' => 'Email already exists',
'phone.required' => 'Mobile number cannot be empty',
'phone.numeric' => 'Mobile number has to be numeric',
'phone.phone_min' => 'Mobile number should contain a minimum 5 characters',
'phone.phone_max' => 'Mobile number cannot exceed 11 characters',
'phone.unique' => 'Mobile number already exists',
'phone.not_in' => 'Enter a valid mobile number ',
'password.required' => 'Password cannot be empty',
'password.min' => 'Password should contain minimum 8 characters',
'password.max' => 'Password cannot exceed 16 characters',
'password.confirmed' => 'Password mismatch.Retry',
'password_confirmation.required' => 'Confirm Password cannot be empty',
];
}
public function withValidator(Validator $validator)
{
$email = $this->request->get( 'email' ); // Start with
$user = \App\User::Where('email', $email)->first();
if($user && $user->activated == 0){
$row = \App\User::find($user->id);
$row->delete();
}else{
$validator->sometimes('email', 'unique:users', function ($input) {
return true;
});
}
}
}
The following is the custom rule object that i was created:
<?php
namespace App\Rules;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Rule;
class allAreSpaces implements Rule
{
/**
* Create a new rule instance.
*
* #return void
*/
public function __construct()
{
//
}
/**
* Determine if the validation rule passes.
*
* #param string $attribute
* #param mixed $value
* #return bool
*/
public function passes($attribute, $value)
{
if(strlen($value) > 0){
if (strlen(trim($value)) == 0){
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
/**
* Get the validation error message.
*
* #return string
*/
public function message()
{
return 'Password cannot contain space character alone';
}
}
Initially its returning, 'Password cannot contain space character alone'. but after i type some spaces then submit it shows 'Password cannot be empty'. But i want 'Password cannot contain space character alone' if the typed characters are only spaces.
Eventhough i did use the following code, its not showing if the input has some spaces, instead it shows, 'Password cannot be empty'.
public function passes($attribute, $value)
{
return false;
}
i was wondering why is that?

Answer 1

Have you checked the global middleware, that is ran for all routes in your application which is set in your HTTP Kernel? These might come into play:
"By default, Laravel includes the TrimStrings and ConvertEmptyStringsToNull middleware in your application's global middleware stack. These middleware are listed in the stack by the App\Http\Kernel class. These middleware will automatically trim all incoming string fields on the request, as well as convert any empty string fields to null. This allows you to not have to worry about these normalization concerns in your routes and controllers.
If you would like to disable this behavior, you may remove the two middleware from your application's middleware stack by removing them from the $middleware property of your App\Http\Kernel class."
Laravel 5.5 Docs - Requests - Input trimming and normalization
This might be relevant as well, goes into some complications that can happen because of these middleware:
"By default, Laravel includes the TrimStrings and ConvertEmptyStringsToNull middleware in your application's global middleware stack. These middleware are listed in the stack by the App\Http\Kernel class. Because of this, you will often need to mark your "optional" request fields as nullable if you do not want the validator to consider null values as invalid. "
Laravel 5.5 Docs - Validation - A note on optional fields