Laravel 5 form validation on failure keep uploaded data - php

Question

I am working on a Laravel project and I have routes set up for a form page where it shows the form on GET and it analyzes it on POST:
Route::get('/update-data', [
'as' => 'user.settings.edit-data',
'uses' => 'UserController#editData',
]);
Route::post('/update-data', [
'as' => 'user.settings.update-data',
'uses' => 'UserController#updateData',
]);
In this form I ask the user to fill out two fields with text and I also ask them to upload two files. Both files must be jpeg, png or pdf. In the controller I have:
$this->validate($request,
[
'phone' => 'required',
'email' => 'required|email',
'file1' => 'required|mimes:jpeg,png,pdf',
'file2' => 'required|mimes:jpeg,png,pdf',
]);
If that succeeds, then the code will continue executing and save everything, but if not it will redirect the user back to the form. Is there a way to still have the file chosen so that the user doesn't need to look for it again?

Answer 1

I would suggest validating using server side code (not javascript, although both can be nice from the user perspective (but obviously don't rely on the js validation).
I usually validate like this in Laravel (I'm not the biggest fan of their built in validator). Then after the validation you can use Laravel's File class to get the file name and re-post the data to the view:
$file = Request::file('file1');
$accepts = ['jpeg', 'png', 'pdf'];
$ext = $file->getClientOriginalExtension();
$filename = $file->getClientOriginalName();
if( !in_array($ext, $accepts) )
{
return view('your-view')->withErrors('Invalid File Format');
}
else
{
//File has one of the correct extensions,
//return the filename to the view so it can be
//re-displayed in the input
return view('your-view', ['filename' => $filename]);
}
Or if you prefer the non-facade way:
$file = $request->file('file1');
$accepts = ['jpeg', 'png', 'pdf'];
$ext = $file->getClientOriginalExtension();
$filename = $file->getClientOriginalName();
if( !in_array($ext, $accepts) )
{
return view('your-view')->withErrors('Invalid File Format');
}
else
{
//File has one of the correct extensions,
//return the filename to the view so it can be
//re-displayed in the input
return view('your-view', ['filename' => $filename]);
}
This takes advantage of Laravels File class.