(Laravel) How can I get validation errors from User model? - php

Question

I'm trying to register a user in my application while keeping all business logic in the model and as little as possible in the controller. To accomplish this, I'm running user validation in the model's boot() method when the Class::creating() event fires. If the validation fails, I simply return false, cancelling the event. You can see this here:
public static function boot() {
parent::boot();
User::creating(function(){
$validator = new Services\Validators\RUser;
if (! $validator->passes()) return false;
});
}
The validator class you see is simply rules and it contains a getErrors() function.
My question is, how can I rewrite this so that I can retrieve the validator's errors for use in a conditional redirect later?
My controller postRegister() (the function called when clicking submit on form) looks like this:
public function postRegister() {
$user = new User(Input::all());
$user->save();
}
I know I'm not handling that in the controller correctly, so I would appreciate some advice with that as well.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You would set a 'protected $errors;' property on the User model, and then
User::creating(function(){
$validator = new Services\Validators\RUser;
if (! $validator->passes()) {
$this->errors = $validation->getErrors();
return false;
}
});

Answer 2

Not a direct answer to your question, but you should check out the Ardent package which is great for automatic model validation and has some other nice accompanying features. Internally it uses native Laravel validators so it's easy to use and will do just what you ask about. It really saves a lot of work (DRY) and I find it very useful.
https://github.com/laravelbook/ardent
The basics from the docs:
Ardent models use Laravel's built-in Validator class. Defining
validation rules for a model is simple and is typically done in your
model class as a static variable:
class User extends \LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent {
public static $rules = array(
'name' => 'required|between:4,16',
'email' => 'required|email',
'password' => 'required|alpha_num|between:4,8|confirmed',
'password_confirmation' => 'required|alpha_num|between:4,8',
);
}
Ardent models validate themselves automatically when Ardent->save() is
called. You can also validate a model at any time using the
Ardent->validate() method.
$user = new User;
$user->name = 'John doe';
$user->email = 'john#doe.com';
$user->password = 'test';
$success = $user->save(); // returns false if model is invalid
When an Ardent model fails to validate, a
Illuminate\Support\MessageBag object is attached to the Ardent object
which contains validation failure messages.
Retrieve the validation errors message collection instance with
Ardent->errors() method or Ardent->validationErrors property.
Retrieve all validation errors with Ardent->errors()->all(). Retrieve
errors for a specific attribute using
Ardent->validationErrors->get('attribute').
So in the end you can do:
$user = new User;
$user->name = 'John doe';
$user->email = 'john#doe.com';
$user->password = 'test';
if(!$user->save())
{
print_r($user->errors()->all()); //or whatever else you wish to do on failure
}

Answer 3

I installed Laravel for the first time less than 12 hours ago, so i may be acting a little prematurely, but to my knowledge...
You have two main options, return the validator class, or store the errors in the User model. I'm currently working with the former, so i have a validate() method which returns the Validator class, which i then do the if($v->passes()) in my controller and can output errors in the controller via $v->messages().
Using your method, you will want to store your errors in the User object if you want to continue returning false on failure. So you could change:
if (! $validator->passes()) return false;
to
if (! $validator->passes()) {
$this->errors = $validator->messages();
return false;
}
and in your controller do:
if(isset($user->errors)) {
//loop and print errors from validator
}
N.B: just to reiterate, im a complete newbie to laravel so i may have gotten something completely wrong. But if i have, someone will correct me and we'll both have learned something :)