How to call controller action in Laravel and run validation request - php

Question

I have a groups table in my database and each group has a slug. I have the following routes defined last in my routes.php file so that if no other URL is matched the app checks whether the slug belongs to a group and shows the group page instead. There is also a form on the group page so the submission of this form needs to be handled as well.
Route::get('{slug}', ['as' => 'dynamic_route', function($slug){
$group = \App\Group::where('slug', $slug)->first();
if(!is_null($group)) {
$app = app();
$controller = $app->make('App\Http\Controllers\GroupsController');
return $controller->callAction('view', ['slug' => $group->slug]);
} else {
abort(404);
}
}]);
Route::post('{slug}', ['as' => 'dynamic_route_submit', function($slug){
$group = \App\Group::where('slug', $slug)->first();
if(!is_null($group)) {
$app = app();
$controller = $app->make('App\Http\Controllers\GroupsController');
return $controller->callAction('handle_register', [$group->slug]);
} else {
abort(404);
}
}]);
Here is my groups controller:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use View;
use App\Group;
use App\Lifestyle_question;
use App\Http\Requests\User\RegisterStep1Request;
use App\Http\Requests\User\RegisterStep2Request;
use Breadcrumbs;
class GroupsController extends FrontendController {
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
}
function view($slug)
{
$this->data['group'] = Group::where('slug', '=', $slug)->first();
$this->data['lifestyle_questions'] = Lifestyle_question::all();
Breadcrumbs::setCurrentRoute('dynamic_route', $this->data['group']);
return View::make('groups/view', $this->data);
}
function handle_register(RegisterStep1Request $request1, RegisterStep2Request $request2, $slug)
{
$this->data['group'] = Group::where('slug', '=', $slug)->first();
die("Validation passed");
}
}
The view method works fine however when I submit the form I get the following error message:
ErrorException in GroupsController.php line 27:
Argument 1 passed to App\Http\Controllers\GroupsController::handle_register() must be an instance of App\Http\Requests\User\RegisterStep1Request, string given
I know this has to do with the parameters that are being passed to the controller method from the route definition and so I tried the following in an attempt to sort it:
Route::post('{slug}', ['as' => 'dynamic_route_submit', function($slug){
$group = \App\Group::where('slug', $slug)->first();
if(!is_null($group)) {
$app = app();
$controller = $app->make('App\Http\Controllers\GroupsController');
return $controller->callAction('handle_register', [new \App\Http\Requests\User\RegisterStep1Request, new \App\Http\Requests\User\RegisterStep2Request, $group->slug]);
} else {
abort(404);
}
}]);
This fixed the issue except the requests just didn't get triggered. How can I call this method and ensure that the requests get triggered so that the validation is run?

Answer 1

Never use an anonymous function in the routing if you're going to call a controller inside of it. Declare your route like this:
Route::post('{slug}', ['as' => 'dynamic_route_submit', 'uses' => 'App\Http\Controllers\GroupsController#handle_register']);
Then in the controller handle whatever validation is necessary.

Answer 2

You could try moving your request validations out of the Request classes and into private controller actions:
UserController.php
/**
* Validates a Create User request
*/
protected function validateCreate()
{
$this->validate($this->request, [
'name' => 'required|max:255',
'email' => 'required|unique:users|max:255',
'account_types_id' => 'required|numeric',
]);
}
So do something similar with your code and call these validation methods from within your controller action:
UserController.php
/**
* #return \Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse
* #throws CreateException
*/
public function create()
{
$this->validateCreate();
As an FYI you can access route parameters by name using request()->route()->getParameter('slug')
$slug = request()->route()->getParameter('slug');
$this->data['group'] = Group::where('slug', '=', $slug)->first();