Highlight multiple select options after validations fails - Laravel 5.2 - php

Question

I'm learning Laravel 5.2 for first time, and I need to repopulate a form when the validation fails.
I was able to do so with single inputs as 'name' or 'description', but I couln't find out how to do it with the 'category' which is a multiple select.
View:
<form action="{{ url('addproduct') }}" method="POST">
{!! csrf_field() !!}
<div class="form-group">
<label for="#productName">Name:</label>
<input id="productName" class="form-control" name="name" type="text" placeholder="Product name" value="{{ old('name') }}">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="#productDescription">Description:</label>
<textarea id="productDescription" class="form-control" name="description" rows="3" placeholder="Product description" value="{{ old('description') }}"></textarea>
</div>
#if ($categories)
<div class="form-group">
<label for="#productCategory">Category:</label>
<select id="productCategory" class="form-control" name="category[]" multiple>
#foreach ($categories as $category)
<option value="{{ $category->id }}">{{ $category->name }}</option>
#endforeach
</select>
</div>
#endif
<div class="form-group">
<label for="#productQuantity">Quantity:</label>
<input id="productQuantity" class="form-control" name="quantity" type="number" min="0" value="0">
</div>
<button class="form-control btn btn-success" type="submit">Add Product</button>
</form>
Controller:
public function add(Request $request) {
$data = array();
$data['msgAdded'] = false;
$data['categories'] = Category::select('name', 'id')->get();
if ($request->isMethod('post')) {
$this->validate($request, [
'name' => 'required|max:50',
'description' => 'required|max:200',
'category' => 'required',
'quantity' => 'required|min:0',
]);
$product = new Product;
$product->name = $request->name;
$product->description = $request->description;
$product->quantity = $request->quantity;
$product->save();
foreach ($request->category as $cat) {
$category = Category::find($cat);
$category->products()->attach($product->id);
}
$data['msgAdded'] = true;
}
$data['view'] = 'addproduct';
return view('products/add', $data);
}
I would like to know if it can be achieve with blade, or the best way to achieve that.
Thank you!

Answer 1

Option 1
You would have to write the select part of your form like this:
<div class="form-group">
<label for="#productCategory">Category:</label>
<select id="productCategory" class="form-control" name="category[]" multiple>
#foreach ($categories as $category)
<option value="{{ $category->id }}"{{ !empty(old('category')) && in_array($category->id, old('category')) ? ' selected="selected"' : '' }}>{{ $category->name }}</option>
#endforeach
</select>
</div>
Option 2
And arguably the more elegant solution is to install the html package from the laravel collective
composer require laravelcollective/html
follow the installation instructions on the laravel collective Forms & HTML documentation.
then just enter this where your select would be:
{!! Form::select('category[]', $categories, old('category'),['class' => 'form-control', 'multiple' => 'multiple'] ) !!}