Validation

Validation

We definitely have something we need to validate before executing script going to other 3rd party resources such as sql server.

We validate data to match our needs.

The class Phalcon\Validation will do the job; We have sample validation classes in our project-name/components/Validation

---

Creating Class Validator

PHP

<?php
...

class JustAnotherValidator extends Validator
{
    public function initialize()
    {
        $this->add('email', new PresenceOf([
            'message' => 'Email is required',
        ]));

        $this->add('email', new Email([
            'message' => 'Email is not valid',
        ]));

        $this->add('email', new Uniqueness([
            'model'   => User::class,
            'message' => 'Email already exist'
        ]));

        $this->add('password', new PresenceOf([
            'message' => 'Password is required',
        ]));

        $this->add('password', new Confirmation([
            'with'    => 'repassword',
            'message' => 'Password and Repeat Password must match',
        ]));

        $this->add('repassword', new PresenceOf([
            'message' => 'Repeat Password is required',
        ]));
    }
}

The above code uses PresenceOf, Email, Uniqueness and Confirmation, those classes are validators that filters a value from your data.

Let's assume we have this kind of data

PHP

$data = [
    'email' => 'johndoe',
    'password' => '123qwe',
    'repassword' => 'qwe123',
];

# this throws error
# - email format error
# - password and repassword not match
$validator = new SomeValidator();
$validator->validate($data);

and we have this:

PHP

$data2 = [
    'email' => '[email protected]',
    'password' => '123qwe',
    'repassword' => '123qwe',
];

# this is ok, but assuming we have existing '[email protected]', so this throws error
# - email exists
$validator = new SomeValidator();
$validator->validate($data2);

---

Available Validators

The lists below are available and mostly used by several developers, you could use them as your reference.

Name	Explanation
PresenceOf	Validates that a field's value is not null or empty string.
Identical	Validates that a field's value is the same as a specified value
Email	Validates that field contains a valid email format
ExclusionIn	Validates that a value is not within a list of possible values
InclusionIn	Validates that a value is within a list of possible values
Regex	Validates that the value of a field matches a regular expression
StringLength	Validates the length of a string
Between	Validates that a value is between two values
Confirmation	Validates that a value is the same as another present in the data
Url	Validates that field contains a valid URL
CreditCard	Validates a credit card number

---

Custom Validator

You can create your own validation class to extend more or to suit your needs.

PHP

<?php

use Phalcon\Validation\Message;
use Phalcon\Validation\Validator;
use Phalcon\Validation\ValidatorInterface;

class IpValidator extends Validator implements ValidatorInterface
{
    /**
     * Executes the validation
     *
     * @param Phalcon\Validation $validator
     * @param string $attribute
     * @return boolean
     */
    public function validate(Validation $validator, $attribute)
    {
        $value = $validator->getValue($attribute);

        if (!filter_var($value, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP, FILTER_FLAG_IPV4 | FILTER_FLAG_IPV6)) {

            $message = $this->getOption('message');
            if (!$message) {
                $message = 'The IP is not valid';
            }

            $validator->appendMessage(new Message($message, $attribute, 'Ip'));

            return false;
        }

        return true;
    }
}

Note: always use boolean to indicate that it is validated or not.