zend 2 forms validatator groups - php

Question

i am using the getInputFilterSpecification() to validate my form elements i.e
public function getInputFilterSpecification()
{
return array(
'comment' => array(
'required' => true,
'filters' =>array(
array('name'=>'StripTags'),
array('name'=>'StringTrim'),
),
'validators' => array(
array(
'name' => 'StringLength',
'options' => array(
'encoding' => 'UTF-8',
'min' => 1,
'max' => 500,
),
),
),
),
'name' => array(
'required' => true,
'filters' =>array(
array('name'=>'StripTags'),
array('name'=>'StringTrim'),
),
'validators' => array(
array(
'name' => 'StringLength',
'options' => array(
'encoding' => 'UTF-8',
),
),
),
),
}
my question is: rather than repeat the same validators for each separate element in my forms, is its possible to lump all the elements into an array and to get the valiators to loop all over them .
i.e somthing like this:
$validateThisGroup = $inputFilter->setValidationGroup(array('comment', 'name'));
return array(
$validateThisGroup => array(
'required' => true,
'filters' =>array(
array('name'=>'StripTags'),
array('name'=>'StringTrim'),
),
'validators' => array(
array(
'name' => 'StringLength',
'options' => array(
'encoding' => 'UTF-8',
'min' => 1,
'max' => 500,
),
),
),
),
UPDATE;
I have reworded my question. I am basically trying to find out if there is a validator group function for the input filter specification function.

Answer 1

Not sure if my advice deserves to be an fully fledged answer but anyways :)
Validators need to be created separately for each input, they are separate stateful instances created by InputFilter's plugin manager, so you need to pass separate definition of validators for each input.
If you just want to avoid copypasting, define validator definition before returning and plug it into return array.
$inputValidatorsSpec = [
[
'name' => 'StringLength',
'options' => [
'encoding' => 'UTF-8',
'min' => 1,
'max' => 500,
],
],
];
$inputFiltersSpec = [
['name' => 'StripTags'],
['name' => 'StringTrim'],
];
return [
'comment' => [
'required' => true,
'filters' => $inputFiltersSpec,
'validators' => $inputValidatorsSpec
],
'name' => [
'required' => true,
'filters' => $inputFiltersSpec,
'validators' => $inputValidatorsSpec
]
];