CodeIgniter: How to put custom validation function in model instead of controller? - php

Question

In CI's documentation, it says that you could create your own custom validation for use in form submission check. It shows how this can be done in a controller:
http://ellislab.com/codeigniter%20/user-guide/libraries/form_validation.html
But what if I want to have my custom validation function in a model?
I've found that the following did not work...
BOTH FUNCTIONS BELOW ARE IN A MODEL:
public function validate_form(){
$this->form_validation->set_rules('username', 'Username', 'callback_illegal_username_check');
$this->form_validation->run();
}
And here's my custom validation function:
public function illegal_username_check($string){
if($string == 'fcuk'){
$this->form_validation->set_message('illegal_username_check', 'Looks like you are trying to use some swear words in the %s field');
return FALSE;
}
else{
return TRUE;
}
}
I found that because my custom validation function is in the model, it did not get called when I run my "validate_form()" function. How do I resolve this?
Many thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You should put custom validation rules in a MY_Form_validation.php in the application/libraries folder.
Then, when you assign your rules you can do something like this..
$this->form_validation->set_rules('field1', 'Field one name', 'trim|required|xss_clean|your_custom_validator');
Note the custom validator doesn't require the callback_ keyword in front.
Here's an example My_Form_valdation.php file.
class MY_Form_validation extends CI_Form_validation {
function __construct($rules = array()) {
parent::__construct($rules);
$this->ci = & get_instance();
$this->ci->load->database();
}
function your_custom_validator($val) {
$this->set_message('your_custom_validator', 'this isn\'t right!');
return (!$val) ? FALSE : TRUE;
}
Note in the construct I've got the Ci instance and loaded the database class.
To use it i'd do something like this..
$this->ci->db->where('id', 1)->get('user')->row();