Yii custom validation rule not called on validate() - php

Question

When a user registers for my application the following validation rules are called before submission:
public function rules()
{
return array(
array('email, firstName, lastName, password, passwordConfirm, telephone', 'required'),
array('club, email, firstName, lastName, level, password, telephone', 'length', 'max'=>45),
array('passwordConfirm', 'compare', 'compareAttribute'=>'password', 'on'=>'register'),
array('email', 'isUniqueEmailAddress'),
);
}
The first three validation rules complete successfully, but the fourth (a custom validation method) does not. It should call the function 'isUniqueEmailAddress' and perform the following:
/*
* Returns true if there doesn't exist a user in the database with the submitted email
*/
public function isUniqueEmailAddress($attribute, $params)
{
//if (User::model()->find('email=:email', array(':email'=>$this->email)) !== null)
//{
$this->addError('email', 'Email account already exists');
//}
}
As you can see, I've even commented out all logic to simply ensure that a validation error is sent back to the registration form, but no errors are returned on validation(). I've read Yii's Documentation and scoured the forums but cannot understand why my custom validation method is not being called?

Answer 1

I ran into this problem when attempting to set a flash message in a controller after calling $model->save(). It was a code formatting issue which caused a logic error.
For example, in the model I had something like this:
public function validateNumItems($attribute, $params) {
$this->addError($attribute, 'Validate Items Failed');
}
In theory this should have caused the form submission to fail every time for debugging purposes. But it never did.
My controller's update action looked like this:
public function actionUpdate($id) {
$model = $this->loadModel($id);
// Uncomment the following line if AJAX validation is needed
// $this->performAjaxValidation($model);
if (isset($_POST['Collection']))
{
$model->attributes = $_POST['Collection'];
if ($model->save())
Yii::app()->user->setFlash('success', "Data saved!");
$this->redirect(array('index'));
}
$this->render('update', array('model' => $model, ));
}
The missing brackets around the $model->save() test created by Gii caused a logic error when I added new lines. Putting the brackets in place fixed things.
public function actionUpdate($id) {
$model = $this->loadModel($id);
// Uncomment the following line if AJAX validation is needed
// $this->performAjaxValidation($model);
if (isset($_POST['Collection'])) {
$model->attributes = $_POST['Collection'];
if ($model->save()) {
Yii::app()->user->setFlash('success', "Data saved!");
$this->redirect(array('index'));
}
}
$this->render('update', array('model' => $model, ));
}

Answer 2

array('email', 'exist')
like this.
public function rules()
{
return array(
array('email, firstName, lastName, password, passwordConfirm, telephone', 'required'),
array('club, email, firstName, lastName, level, password, telephone', 'length', 'max'=>45),
array('passwordConfirm', 'compare', 'compareAttribute'=>'password', 'on'=>'register'),
array('email', 'exist')
);
}

Answer 3

I commented with some possible reasons your code isn't working (it looks right), but in this case you can just use the Unique validator.
array('email', 'unique') will do it.

Answer 4

try this, it's working fine -
public function rules()
{
return array(
array('email, firstName, lastName, password, passwordConfirm, telephone', 'required'),
array('email', 'email','message'=>"The email isn't correct"),
array('email', 'uniqueEmail'),
);
}
your custom function, write into same model -
public function uniqueEmail($attribute, $params)
{
if($user = User::model()->exists('email=:email',array(':email'=>$this->email)))
$this->addError($attribute, 'Email already exists!');
}