Laravel 4: Pass validation messages obtained from repository to controller - php

Question

Learning about Ioc and Repositories and stuck at last hurdle!
Assuming I am validating input, how do I pass back messages from the Validator within the repository to the controller?
UserRepository
interface UserRepository {
public function all();
public function create($input);
public function findById($id);
}
Sentry2UserRepository
class Sentry2UserRepository implements UserRepository {
...
public function create($input) {
$validation = Validator::make($input, User::$rules);
if ($validation->passes()) {
Sentry::createUser( array_except( $input, ['password_confirmation']));
// Put something here to tell controller that user has been successfully been created
return true;
}
else {
// pass back to controller that validation has failed
// with messages
return $validation->messages(); ?????
}
...
My UserController
UserController extends BaseController {
...
public function postRegister() {
$input['first_name'] = Input::get('first_name');
$input['last_name'] = Input::get('last_name');
$input['email'] = Input::get('email');
$input['password'] = Input::get('password');
$input['password_confirmation'] = Input::get('password_confirmation');
// Something like
if ($this->user->create($input)) {
Session::flash('success', 'Successfully registered');
return Redirect::to('/');
}
else {
Session::flash('error', 'There were errors in your submission');
return Redirect::to('user/login')->withErrors()->withInput();
}
}
...
}
Only 1.5 weeks into Laravel so please go easy on me.

Answer 1

Assuming your repository is working fine for you already:
class Sentry2UserRepository implements UserRepository {
public $validation;
public function create($input) {
$this->validation = Validator::make($input, User::$rules);
if ($this->validation->passes()) {
Sentry::createUser( array_except( $input, ['password_confirmation']));
// Put something here to tell controller that user has been successfully been created
return true;
}
else {
// pass back to controller that validation has failed
// with messages
return false;
}
}
}
Then you just have to access it within your controller using
$this->user->validation->messages()