Phalcon: How do I use my custom Validation class with forms? - php

Question

I created a Validation class that supports the validation of multidimensional arrays and I'd like to use it, but I don't know how Phalcon retrieves the validation instance.
how do I do that?
This is my MultiDimensionalValidator class:
/**
* Validates inputs with multidimensional names such as "names[fr]name'.
*
* #package Intlist\Validator
*/
class MultidimensionalValidator extends Validation
{
/**
* #param \Phalcon\Validation $validation
* #param string $attribute
*
* #return Validation\Message\Group|void
*/
public function validate($validation = null, $attribute = null)
{
$this->_data = $validation->_data;
$this->_messages = $validation->getMessages();
foreach ($this->_validators as $validator) {
$validator->validate($this, $attribute);
}
return $this->_messages;
}
/**
* Support for multidimensional array.
*
* #inheritdoc
*/
public function getValue($attribute)
{
$parts = $this->extractKeyParts($attribute);
$value = $this->_data;
while ($name = array_shift($parts)) {
if (!array_key_exists($name, $value)) {
return null;
}
$value = $value[$name];
}
return $value;
}
/**
* Extract the parts from a flattened multidimensional key.
*
* #param string $flattened
*
* #return array
*/
private function extractKeyParts($flattened)
{
$pos = strpos($flattened, '[');
if (!$pos) {
return [ $flattened ];
}
$first = substr($flattened, 0, $pos);
$remainder = substr($flattened, $pos);
preg_match_all('#\[([^\]]+)\]#', $remainder, $matches);
return array_merge([ $first], $matches[1]);
}
}
And this is a usage:
foreach ($this->domain->getLanguages() as $language) {
$name = new Text("names[$language][name]");
$name->setLabel($t('common.label.category_name') . " ($language)");
$name->addValidator(new MultiDimensionalValidator([
new PresenceOf(['message' => $t('validation.category_name.required')]),
new StringLength([
'max' => 255,
'messageMaximum' => 'validation.category_name.messageMaximum'
])
]));
}
The MultiDimensionalValidator class is used as a validator here, but I would really like to use it as the Validation instance of the form.

Answer 1

If you want to use your custom validator in conjunction with a form, then you need to add the element to the form like so:
$form->add($name);
Per the documentation (http://docs.phalconphp.com/en/latest/reference/forms.html#validation) you can then use the isValid method to validate your data:
if (!$form->isValid($_POST)) {
foreach ($form->getMessages() as $message) {
echo $message, '<br>';
}
}
Note, however, that the Phalcon validation component (http://docs.phalconphp.com/en/latest/reference/validation.html) is independent of forms. In other words, it needn't be a part of a form. It could be a part of a model instead, or it could be a stand-alone class, as in the following example:
$validation = new Phalcon\Validation();
foreach ($this->domain->getLanguages() as $language) {
$validation->addValidator(new MultiDimensionalValidator(...));
}
$messages = $validation->validate($_POST);
if (count($messages)) {
foreach ($messages as $message) {
echo $message, '<br>';
}
}