Rakit Validation - PHP Standalone Validation Library

PHP Standalone library for validating data. Inspired by Illuminate\Validation Laravel.

Features

• API like Laravel validation.
• Array validation.
• $_FILES validation with multiple file support.
• Custom attribute aliases.
• Custom validation messages.
• Custom rule.

Requirements

• PHP 7.0 or higher
• Composer for installation

Quick Start

Installation

composer require "rakit/validation"

Usage

There are two ways to validating data with this library. Using make to make validation object, then validate it using validate. Or just use validate. Examples:

Using make:

<?php

require('vendor/autoload.php');

use Rakit\Validation\Validator;

$validator = new Validator;

// make it
$validation = $validator->make($_POST + $_FILES, [
    'name'                  => 'required',
    'email'                 => 'required|email',
    'password'              => 'required|min:6',
    'confirm_password'      => 'required|same:password',
    'avatar'                => 'required|uploaded_file:0,500K,png,jpeg',
    'skills'                => 'array',
    'skills.*.id'           => 'required|numeric',
    'skills.*.percentage'   => 'required|numeric'
]);

// then validate
$validation->validate();

if ($validation->fails()) {
    // handling errors
    $errors = $validation->errors();
    echo "<pre>";
    print_r($errors->firstOfAll());
    echo "</pre>";
    exit;
} else {
    // validation passes
    echo "Success!";
}

or just validate it:

<?php

require('vendor/autoload.php');

use Rakit\Validation\Validator;

$validator = new Validator;

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST + $_FILES, [
    'name'                  => 'required',
    'email'                 => 'required|email',
    'password'              => 'required|min:6',
    'confirm_password'      => 'required|same:password',
    'avatar'                => 'required|uploaded_file:0,500K,png,jpeg',
    'skills'                => 'array',
    'skills.*.id'           => 'required|numeric',
    'skills.*.percentage'   => 'required|numeric'
]);

if ($validation->fails()) {
	// handling errors
	$errors = $validation->errors();
	echo "<pre>";
	print_r($errors->firstOfAll());
	echo "</pre>";
	exit;
} else {
	// validation passes
	echo "Success!";
}

In this case, 2 examples above will output the same results.

But with make you can setup something like custom invalid message, custom attribute alias, etc before validation running.

Attribute Alias

By default we will transform your attribute into more readable text. For example confirm_password will be displayed as Confirm password. But you can set it anything you want with setAlias or setAliases method.

Example:

$validator = new Validator;

// To set attribute alias, you should use `make` instead `validate`.
$validation->make([
	'province_id' => $_POST['province_id'],
	'district_id' => $_POST['district_id']
], [
	'province_id' => 'required|numeric',
	'district_id' => 'required|numeric'
]);

// now you can set aliases using this way:
$validation->setAlias('province_id', 'Province');
$validation->setAlias('district_id', 'District');

// or this way:
$validation->setAliases([
	'province_id' => 'Province',
	'district_id' => 'District'
]);

// then validate it
$validation->validate();

Now if province_id value is empty, error message would be 'Province is required'.

Custom Validation Message

Before register/set custom messages, here are some variables you can use in your custom messages:

• :attribute: will replaced into attribute alias.
• :value: will replaced into stringify value of attribute. For array and object will replaced to json.

And also there are several message variables depends on their rules.

Here are some ways to register/set your custom message(s):

Custom Messages for Validator

With this way, anytime you make validation using make or validate it will set your custom messages for it. It is useful for localization.

To do this, you can set custom messages as first argument constructor like this:

$validator = new Validator([
	'required' => ':attribute harus diisi',
	'email' => ':email tidak valid',
	// etc
]);

// then validation belows will use those custom messages
$validation_a = $validator->validate($dataset_a, $rules_for_a);
$validation_b = $validator->validate($dataset_b, $rules_for_b);

Or using setMessages method like this:

$validator = new Validator;
$validator->setMessages([
	'required' => ':attribute harus diisi',
	'email' => ':email tidak valid',
	// etc
]);

// now validation belows will use those custom messages
$validation_a = $validator->validate($dataset_a, $rules_for_dataset_a);
$validation_b = $validator->validate($dataset_b, $rules_for_dataset_b);

Custom Messages for Validation

Sometimes you may want to set custom messages for specific validation. To do this you can set your custom messages as 3rd argument of $validator->make or $validator->validate like this:

$validator = new Validator;

$validation_a = $validator->validate($dataset_a, $rules_for_dataset_a, [
	'required' => ':attribute harus diisi',
	'email' => ':email tidak valid',
	// etc
]);

Or you can use $validation->setMessages like this:

$validator = new Validator;

$validation_a = $validator->make($dataset_a, $rules_for_dataset_a);
$validation_a->setMessages([
	'required' => ':attribute harus diisi',
	'email' => ':email tidak valid',
	// etc
]);

...

$validation_a->validate();

Custom Message for Specific Attribute Rule

Sometimes you may want to set custom message for specific rule attribute. To do this you can use : as message separator or using chaining methods.

Examples:

$validator = new Validator;

$validation_a = $validator->make($dataset_a, [
	'age' => 'required|min:18'
]);

$validation_a->setMessages([
	'age:min' => '18+ only',
]);

$validation_a->validate();

Or using chaining methods:

$validator = new Validator;

$validation_a = $validator->make($dataset_a, [
	'photo' => [
		'required',
		$validator('uploaded_file')->fileTypes('jpeg|png')->message('Photo must be jpeg/png image')
	]
]);

$validation_a->validate();

Translation

Translation is different with custom messages. Translation may needed when you use custom message for rule in, not_in, mimes, and uploaded_file.

For example if you use rule in:1,2,3 we will set invalid message like "The Attribute only allows '1', '2', or '3'" where part "'1', '2', or '3'" is comes from ":allowed_values" tag. So if you have custom Indonesian message ":attribute hanya memperbolehkan :allowed_values", we will set invalid message like "Attribute hanya memperbolehkan '1', '2', or '3'" which is the "or" word is not part of Indonesian language.

So, to solve this problem, we can use translation like this:

// Set translation for words 'and' and 'or'.
$validator->setTranslations([
    'and' => 'dan',
    'or' => 'atau'
]);

// Set custom message for 'in' rule
$validator->setMessage('in', ":attribute hanya memperbolehkan :allowed_values");

// Validate
$validation = $validator->validate($inputs, [
    'nomor' => 'in:1,2,3'
]);

$message = $validation->errors()->first('nomor'); // "Nomor hanya memperbolehkan '1', '2', atau '3'" 

Actually, our built-in rules only use words 'and' and 'or' that you may need to translates.

Working with Error Message

Errors messages are collected in Rakit\Validation\ErrorBag object that you can get it using errors() method.

$validation = $validator->validate($inputs, $rules);

$errors = $validation->errors(); // << ErrorBag

Now you can use methods below to retrieves errors messages:

all(string $format = ':message')

Get all messages as flatten array.

Examples:

$messages = $errors->all(); 
// [
//     'Email is not valid email',
//     'Password minimum 6 character',
//     'Password must contains capital letters'
// ]

$messages = $errors->all('<li>:message</li>');
// [
//     '<li>Email is not valid email</li>',
//     '<li>Password minimum 6 character</li>',
//     '<li>Password must contains capital letters</li>'
// ]

firstOfAll(string $format = ':message', bool $dotNotation = false)

Get only first message from all existing keys.

Examples:

$messages = $errors->firstOfAll(); 
// [
//     'email' => Email is not valid email',
//     'password' => 'Password minimum 6 character',
// ]

$messages = $errors->firstOfAll('<li>:message</li>');
// [
//     'email' => '<li>Email is not valid email</li>',
//     'password' => '<li>Password minimum 6 character</li>',
// ]

Argument $dotNotation is for array validation. If it is false it will return original array structure, if it true it will return flatten array with dot notation keys.

For example:

$messages = $errors->firstOfAll(':message', false); 
// [
//     'contacts' => [
//          1 => [
//              'email' => 'Email is not valid email',
//              'phone' => 'Phone is not valid phone number'
//          ],
//     ],
// ]

$messages = $errors->firstOfAll(':message', true);
// [
//     'contacts.1.email' => 'Email is not valid email',
//     'contacts.1.phone' => 'Email is not valid phone number',
// ]

first(string $key)

Get first message from given key. It will return string if key has any error message, or null if key has no errors.

For example:

if ($emailError = $errors->first('email')) {
    echo $emailError;
}

toArray()

Get all messages grouped by it's keys.

For example:

$messages = $errors->toArray();
// [
//     'email' => [
//         'Email is not valid email'
//     ],
//     'password' => [
//         'Password minimum 6 character',
//         'Password must contains capital letters'
//     ]
// ]

count()

Get count messages.

has(string $key)

Check if given key has an error. It returns bool if a key has an error, and otherwise.

Getting Validated, Valid, and Invalid Data

For example you have validation like this:

$validation = $validator->validate([
    'title' => 'Lorem Ipsum',
    'body' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ...',
    'published' => null,
    'something' => '-invalid-'
], [
    'title' => 'required',
    'body' => 'required',
    'published' => 'default:1|required|in:0,1',
    'something' => 'required|numeric'
]);

You can get validated data, valid data, or invalid data using methods in example below:

$validatedData = $validation->getValidatedData();
// [
//     'title' => 'Lorem Ipsum',
//     'body' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ...',
//     'published' => '1' // notice this
//     'something' => '-invalid-'
// ]

$validData = $validation->getValidData();
// [
//     'title' => 'Lorem Ipsum',
//     'body' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ...',
//     'published' => '1'
// ]

$invalidData = $validation->getInvalidData();
// [
//     'something' => '-invalid-'
// ]

Available Rules

Click to show details.

The field under this validation must be present and not 'empty'.

Here are some examples:

| Value | Valid | |---------------|-------| | 'something' | true | | '0' | true | | 0 | true | | [0] | true | | [null] | true | | null | false | | [] | false | | '' | false |

For uploaded file, $_FILES['key']['error'] must not UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE.

The field under this rule must be present and not empty if the anotherfield field is equal to any value.

For example required_if:something,1,yes,on will be required if something value is one of 1, '1', 'yes', or 'on'.

The field under validation must be present and not empty unless the anotherfield field is equal to any value.

The field under validation must be present and not empty only if any of the other specified fields are present.

The field under validation must be present and not empty only when any of the other specified fields are not present.

The field under validation must be present and not empty only if all of the other specified fields are present.

The field under validation must be present and not empty only when all of the other specified fields are not present.

This rule will validate data from $_FILES. Field under this rule must be follows rules below to be valid:

• $_FILES['key']['error'] must be UPLOAD_ERR_OK or UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE. For UPLOAD_ERR_NO_FILE you can validate it with required rule.
• If min size is given, uploaded file size MUST NOT be lower than min size.
• If max size is given, uploaded file size MUST NOT be higher than max size.
• If file types is given, mime type must be one of those given types.

Here are some example definitions and explanations:

• uploaded_file: uploaded file is optional. When it is not empty, it must be ERR_UPLOAD_OK.
• required|uploaded_file: uploaded file is required, and it must be ERR_UPLOAD_OK.
• uploaded_file:0,1M: uploaded file size must be between 0 - 1 MB, but uploaded file is optional.
• required|uploaded_file:0,1M,png,jpeg: uploaded file size must be between 0 - 1MB and mime types must be image/jpeg or image/png.

Optionally, if you want to have separate error message between size and type validation. You can use mimes rule to validate file types, and min, max, or between to validate it's size.

For multiple file upload, PHP will give you undesirable array $_FILES structure (here is the topic). So we make uploaded_file rule to automatically resolve your $_FILES value to be well-organized array structure. That means, you cannot only use min, max, between, or mimes rules to validate multiple file upload. You should put uploaded_file just to resolve it's value and make sure that value is correct uploaded file value.

For example if you have input files like this:

<input type="file" name="photos[]"/>
<input type="file" name="photos[]"/>
<input type="file" name="photos[]"/>

You can simply validate it like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($_FILES, [
    'photos.*' => 'uploaded_file:0,2M,jpeg,png'
]);

// or

$validation = $validator->validate($_FILES, [
    'photos.*' => 'uploaded_file|max:2M|mimes:jpeg,png'
]);

Or if you have input files like this:

<input type="file" name="images[profile]"/>
<input type="file" name="images[cover]"/>

You can validate it like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($_FILES, [
    'images.*' => 'uploaded_file|max:2M|mimes:jpeg,png',
]);

// or

$validation = $validator->validate($_FILES, [
    'images.profile' => 'uploaded_file|max:2M|mimes:jpeg,png',
    'images.cover' => 'uploaded_file|max:5M|mimes:jpeg,png',
]);

Now when you use getValidData() or getInvalidData() you will get well array structure just like single file upload.

The $_FILES item under validation must have a MIME type corresponding to one of the listed extensions.

This is special rule that doesn't validate anything. It just set default value to your attribute if that attribute is empty or not present.

For example if you have validation like this

$validation = $validator->validate([
    'enabled' => null
], [
    'enabled' => 'default:1|required|in:0,1'
    'published' => 'default:0|required|in:0,1'
]);

$validation->passes(); // true

Validation passes because we sets default value for enabled and published to 1 and 0 which is valid.

The field under this validation must be valid email address.

The field under this validation must be valid uppercase.

The field under this validation must be valid lowercase.

The field under this validation must be valid JSON string.

The field under this rule must be entirely alphabetic characters.

The field under this rule must be numeric.

The field under this rule must be entirely alpha-numeric characters.

The field under this rule may have alpha-numeric characters, as well as dashes and underscores.

The field under this rule may have alpha characters, as well as spaces.

The field under this rule must be included in the given list of values.

This rule is using in_array to check the value. By default in_array disable strict checking. So it doesn't check data type. If you want enable strict checking, you can invoke validator like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($data, [
    'enabled' => [
        'required', 
        $validator('in', [true, 1])->strict()
    ]
]);

Then 'enabled' value should be boolean true, or int 1.

The field under this rule must not be included in the given list of values.

This rule also using in_array. You can enable strict checking by invoking validator and call strict() like example in rule in above.

The field under this rule must have a size greater or equal than the given number.

For string data, value corresponds to the number of characters. For numeric data, value corresponds to a given integer value. For an array, size corresponds to the count of the array.

You can also validate uploaded file using this rule to validate minimum size of uploaded file. For example:

$validation = $validator->validate([
    'photo' => $_FILES['photo']
], [
    'photo' => 'required|min:1M'
]);

The field under this rule must have a size lower or equal than the given number. Value size calculated in same way like min rule.

You can also validate uploaded file using this rule to validate maximum size of uploaded file. For example:

$validation = $validator->validate([
    'photo' => $_FILES['photo']
], [
    'photo' => 'required|max:2M'
]);

The field under this rule must have a size between min and max params. Value size calculated in same way like min and max rule.

You can also validate uploaded file using this rule to validate size of uploaded file. For example:

$validation = $validator->validate([
    'photo' => $_FILES['photo']
], [
    'photo' => 'required|between:1M,2M'
]);

The field under validation must be numeric and must have an exact length of value.

The field under validation must have a length between the given min and max.

The field under this rule must be valid url format. By default it check common URL scheme format like any_scheme://.... But you can specify URL schemes if you want.

For example:

$validation = $validator->validate($inputs, [
    'random_url' => 'url',          // value can be `any_scheme://...`
    'https_url' => 'url:http',      // value must be started with `https://`
    'http_url' => 'url:http,https', // value must be started with `http://` or `https://`
    'ftp_url' => 'url:ftp',         // value must be started with `ftp://`
    'custom_url' => 'url:custom',   // value must be started with `custom://`
    'mailto_url' => 'url:mailto',   // value must conatin valid mailto URL scheme like `mailto:a@mail.com,b@mail.com`
    'jdbc_url' => 'url:jdbc',       // value must contain valid jdbc URL scheme like `jdbc:mysql://localhost/dbname`
]);

For common URL scheme and mailto, we combine FILTER_VALIDATE_URL to validate URL format and preg_match to validate it's scheme. Except for JDBC URL, currently it just check a valid JDBC scheme.

The field under this rule must be valid ipv4 or ipv6.

The field under this rule must be valid ipv4.

The field under this rule must be valid ipv6.

The field under this rule must end with an extension corresponding to one of those listed.

This is useful for validating a file type for a given a path or url. The mimes rule should be used for validating uploads.

The field under this rule must be array.

The field value under this rule must be same with another_field value.

The field under this rule must be match with given regex.

The field under this rule must be valid date format. Parameter format is optional, default format is Y-m-d.

The field under this rule must be one of 'on', 'yes', '1', 'true', or true.

The field under this rule must be exists, whatever the value is.

Opposite of same. The field value under this rule must be different with another_field value.

Anything that can be parsed by strtotime can be passed as a parameter to this rule. Valid examples include :

• after:next week
• after:2016-12-31
• after:2016
• after:2016-12-31 09:56:02

This also works the same way as the after rule. Pass anything that can be parsed by strtotime

You can use this rule to define your own validation rule. This rule can't be registered using string pipe. To use this rule, you should put Closure inside array of rules.

For example:

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST, [
    'even_number' => [
        'required',
        function ($value) {
            // false = invalid
            return (is_numeric($value) AND $value % 2 === 0);
        }
    ]
]);

You can set invalid message by returning a string. For example, example above would be:

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST, [
    'even_number' => [
        'required',
        function ($value) {
            if (!is_numeric($value)) {
                return ":attribute must be numeric.";
            }
            if ($value % 2 !== 0) {
                return ":attribute is not even number.";
            }
            // you can return true or don't return anything if value is valid
        }
    ]
]);

Note: Rakit\Validation\Rules\Callback instance is binded into your Closure. So you can access rule properties and methods using $this.

Register/Override Rule

Another way to use custom validation rule is to create a class extending Rakit\Validation\Rule. Then register it using setValidator or addValidator.

For example, you want to create unique validator that check field availability from database.

First, lets create UniqueRule class:

<?php

use Rakit\Validation\Rule;

class UniqueRule extends Rule
{
    protected $message = ":attribute :value has been used";
    
    protected $fillableParams = ['table', 'column', 'except'];
    
    protected $pdo;
    
    public function __construct(PDO $pdo)
    {
        $this->pdo = $pdo;
    }
    
    public function check($value): bool
    {
        // make sure required parameters exists
        $this->requireParameters(['table', 'column']);
    
        // getting parameters
        $column = $this->parameter('column');
        $table = $this->parameter('table');
        $except = $this->parameter('except');
	
        if ($except AND $except == $value) {
            return true;
        }
	
        // do query
        $stmt = $this->pdo->prepare("select count(*) as count from `{$table}` where `{$column}` = :value");
        $stmt->bindParam(':value', $value);
        $stmt->execute();
        $data = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
	
        // true for valid, false for invalid
        return intval($data['count']) === 0;
    }
}

Then you need to register UniqueRule instance into validator like this:

use Rakit\Validation\Validator;

$validator = new Validator;

$validator->addValidator('unique', new UniqueRule($pdo));

Now you can use it like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST, [
    'email' => 'email|unique:users,email,exception@mail.com'
]);

In UniqueRule above, property $message is used for default invalid message. And property $fillable_params is used for fillParameters method (defined in Rakit\Validation\Rule class). By default fillParameters will fill parameters listed in $fillable_params. For example unique:users,email,exception@mail.com in example above, will set:

$params['table'] = 'users';
$params['column'] = 'email';
$params['except'] = 'exception@mail.com';

If you want your custom rule accept parameter list like in,not_in, or uploaded_file rules, you just need to override fillParameters(array $params) method in your custom rule class.

Note that unique rule that we created above also can be used like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST, [
    'email' => [
    	'required', 'email',
    	$validator('unique', 'users', 'email')->message('Custom message')
    ]
]);

So you can improve UniqueRule class above by adding some methods that returning its own instance like this:

<?php

use Rakit\Validation\Rule;

class UniqueRule extends Rule
{
    ...
    
    public function table($table)
    {
        $this->params['table'] = $table;
        return $this;
    }
    
    public function column($column)
    {
        $this->params['column'] = $column;
        return $this;
    }
    
    public function except($value)
    {
        $this->params['except'] = $value;
        return $this;
    }
    
    ...
}

Then you can use it in more funky way like this:

$validation = $validator->validate($_POST, [
    'email' => [
    	'required', 'email',
    	$validator('unique')->table('users')->column('email')->except('exception@mail.com')->message('Custom message')
    ]
]);

Implicit Rule

Implicit rule is a rule that if it's invalid, then next rules will be ignored. For example if attribute didn't pass required* rules, mostly it's next rules will also be invalids. So to prevent our next rules messages to get collected, we make required* rules to be implicit.

To make your custom rule implicit, you can make $implicit property value to be true. For example:

<?php

use Rakit\Validation\Rule;

class YourCustomRule extends Rule
{

    protected $implicit = true;

}

Modify Value

In some case, you may want your custom rule to be able to modify it's attribute value like our default/defaults rule. So in current and next rules checks, your modified value will be used.

To do this, you should implements Rakit\Validation\Rules\Interfaces\ModifyValue and create method modifyValue($value) to your custom rule class.

For example:

<?php

use Rakit\Validation\Rule;
use Rakit\Validation\Rules\Interfaces\ModifyValue;

class YourCustomRule extends Rule implements ModifyValue
{
    ...

    public function modifyValue($value)
    {
        // Do something with $value

        return $value;
    }

    ...
}

Before Validation Hook

You may want to do some preparation before validation running. For example our uploaded_file rule will resolves attribute value that come from $_FILES (undesirable) array structure to be well-organized array structure, so we can validate multiple file upload just like validating other data.

To do this, you should implements Rakit\Validation\Rules\Interfaces\BeforeValidate and create method beforeValidate() to your custom rule class.

For example:

<?php

use Rakit\Validation\Rule;
use Rakit\Validation\Rules\Interfaces\BeforeValidate;

class YourCustomRule extends Rule implements BeforeValidate
{
    ...

    public function beforeValidate()
    {
        $attribute = $this->getAttribute(); // Rakit\Validation\Attribute instance
        $validation = $this->validation; // Rakit\Validation\Validation instance

        // Do something with $attribute and $validation
        // For example change attribute value
        $validation->setValue($attribute->getKey(), "your custom value");
    }

    ...
}