Validation

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Overview

Lyger includes a powerful validation system with 20+ built-in rules, custom error messages, and form request classes for organizing validation logic.

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Basic Validation

Use Validator::make() to create a validator:

use Lyger\Validation\Validator;

$validator = Validator::make($data, $rules);

if ($validator->fails()) {
    return Response::json(['errors' => $validator->errors()], 422);
}

$validated = $validator->validated(); // Only validated fields

Full Example in a Controller

public function store(Request $request): Response
{
    $validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
        'name'     => 'required|string|max:100',
        'email'    => 'required|email',
        'password' => 'required|min:8|confirmed',
        'age'      => 'required|integer|min:18|max:120',
    ]);

    if ($validator->fails()) {
        return Response::json([
            'message' => 'Validation failed',
            'errors'  => $validator->errors(),
        ], 422);
    }

    $user = User::create($validator->validated());
    return Response::json($user->toArray(), 201);
}

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Available Rules

Rules are combined as a pipe-delimited string or an array.

Presence

Rule	Description
required	Field must be present and not empty/null

Type Checking

Rule	Description
string	Must be a string
integer	Must be an integer
numeric	Must be numeric (int or float)
boolean	Must be a boolean (or 'true'/'false'/0/1)
array	Must be an array

Format

Rule	Description
email	Must be a valid email address
url	Must be a valid URL
ip	Must be a valid IP address
date	Must be parseable as a date (strtotime)
alpha	Must contain only letters
alpha_num	Must contain only letters and numbers
regex:/pattern/	Must match the given regular expression

Size & Length

Rule	Description
min:N	For strings: minimum length. For numbers: minimum value. For arrays: minimum count.
max:N	For strings: maximum length. For numbers: maximum value. For arrays: maximum count.

Inclusion

Rule	Description
in:val1,val2,...	Value must be one of the listed values

Confirmation

Rule	Description
confirmed	Field must match a {field}_confirmation field

Database

Rule	Description
unique	Value must not exist in the database (stub — extend to implement)
exists	Value must exist in the database (stub — extend to implement)

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Custom Error Messages

Override the default error messages per field:

$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'email' => 'required|email',
    'age'   => 'required|integer|min:18',
], [
    'email.required' => 'We need your email address.',
    'email.email'    => 'Please provide a valid email.',
    'age.min'        => 'You must be at least 18 years old.',
]);

---

Checking Validation Results

$validator->validate();  // Returns true/false
$validator->fails();     // true if there are errors
$validator->errors();    // ['field' => ['Error message', ...], ...]
$validator->validated(); // Only the validated fields (not extra input)

---

Form Requests

For complex validation, create a Form Request class to encapsulate rules and authorization:

# No rawr command yet — create manually in App/Requests/

<?php

namespace App\Requests;

use Lyger\Validation\FormRequest;

class StorePostRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function authorize(): bool
    {
        // Return true to allow, false to deny (403)
        return true;
    }

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'title'     => 'required|string|max:512',
            'content'   => 'required|string',
            'published' => 'boolean',
        ];
    }

    public function messages(): array
    {
        return [
            'title.required' => 'A post title is required.',
            'content.required' => 'Post content cannot be empty.',
        ];
    }
}

Use it in a controller:

public function store(Request $request): Response
{
    $formRequest = new StorePostRequest($request->all());

    try {
        $data = $formRequest->validate();
    } catch (\Lyger\Validation\ValidationException $e) {
        return Response::json(['errors' => $e->getErrors()], 422);
    }

    $post = Post::create($data);
    return Response::json($post->toArray(), 201);
}

---

ValidationException

When using FormRequest::validate(), a ValidationException is thrown if validation fails:

use Lyger\Validation\ValidationException;

try {
    $data = $formRequest->validate();
} catch (ValidationException $e) {
    $errors    = $e->getErrors();        // ['field' => ['msg', ...]]
    $validator = $e->getValidator();     // The Validator instance
}

---

Rule Examples

// Password confirmation
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'password'              => 'required|min:8',
    'password_confirmation' => 'required',
    // 'confirmed' checks that password === password_confirmation
    // Add to password rule: 'required|min:8|confirmed'
]);

// Enum-like validation
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'role'   => 'required|in:admin,editor,viewer',
    'status' => 'required|in:active,inactive,pending',
]);

// Regex
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'phone'   => 'required|regex:/^\+?[0-9]{10,15}$/',
    'zip'     => 'required|regex:/^[0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?$/',
]);

// Nested integer range
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
    'page'     => 'integer|min:1',
    'per_page' => 'integer|min:5|max:100',
]);

---

Method Reference

Validator

Method	Description
make(array $data, array $rules, array $messages = []): self	Static factory
validate(): bool	Run all rules, returns true/false
fails(): bool	Returns true if there are validation errors
errors(): array	All errors as ['field' => ['msg', ...]]
validated(): array	Only the fields that passed validation

FormRequest

Method	Description
authorize(): bool	Override to add authorization logic
rules(): array	Override to define validation rules
messages(): array	Override to customize error messages
validate(): array	Run validation, throw ValidationException on failure
validated(): array	Get validated data
fails(): bool	Check for errors
errors(): array	Get all errors