validators.md

Request validators

By registering validators, we can validate input that is passed to actions.

Creating validators

To create a new validator, extend the FluxBB\Core\Validator class and overwrite its abstract methods:

class MessageValidator extends Validator
{
    protected function rules()
    {
        return [
            'title' => 'required|between:2,50',
            'text'  => 'required|min:20',
        ];
    }

    public function validate(Request $request)
    {
        $this->ensureValid($request->getParameters());
    }
}

The rules() method should return an array of validation rules. Behind the scenes, this uses Laravel's validation component. What you can do with these rules is thoroughly explained in the Laravel documentation.

The validate() method receives a request object as an argument. It should make sure the given request object contains valid data. If the validation fails, it should throw an Illuminate\Server\Exception\ValidationFailed exception.

As validators will usually simply check an array of input data against a set of rules, the ensureValid() helper method exists to make this use-case super simple. Just pass it an array, and it will validate it and throw an exception if the validation failed.

Registering validators

Validators are small, reusable classes. As such, they need to be registered with the request validator, which is implemented in FluxBB\Server\RequestValidator. This class wraps the FluxBB server instance and, before passing on requests to their corresponding actions, makes sure they are valid.

Validators are registered in the server's service provider, FluxBB\Server\ServerServiceProvider. In the registerValidators() method, validator classes are registered to be run before certain actions:

$validator->registerValidator('edit.post', 'FluxBB\Validation\PostValidator');