# Validation

The \utilities\Validation class makes incredibly easy the process of validating data.

Usage

The validation utility takes a main array which will be used to test against another array containing the conditions that the main array must match.

Keys

The following keys can be used in the elements of the fields array.

• min_len: The minimum length of the variable.

• max_len: The maximum length of the variable.

• min_val: The minimum value of the variable (treating it as a number).

• max_val: The maximum value of the variable (treating it as a number).

• regex: The regular expression that the variable must met.

• type: The type of the variable, the available options are email, alphanumeric, alpha, int, float, bool.

Example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Thomas Andrews',
    'age'  => 39
];

$fields = [
    'name' => [
        'minlen' => 10,
    ],
    'age' => [
        'minval' => 18
    ]
];

$validation = new \Utilities\Validation();
$validation->setData($data);
$validation->setFields($fields);

Running the following code should return true:

$validation->isValid();

The fields array has multiple elements, each one is an array containing the conditions that the key with the same name in the main array must meet. In this case the name field must have a minimum length of 10 characters and the age must have a minimum value of 18. Only if all of those conditions are met the isValid method will return true.

Example 2

A more expressive example

$data = [
    'name' => 'Thomas Andrews',
    'age'  => 39
];

$fields = [
    'name' => [
        'minlen' => 10,
        'type'   => 'alpha'
    ],
    'age' => [
        'minval' => 18,
        'type'   => 'int'
    ]
];

$validation = new \Utilities\Validation();
$validation->setData($data);
$validation->setFields($fields);

In that case the isValid method will return true only if the name has a minimum length of 10 characters and contains only letters, and the age has a minimum value of 18 and is of type int, meaning that a string containing: 18 isn't valid.

General Methods

In the method examples a validation variable will be used which is an instance of \Utilities\Validation.

The setData, setType and setFields methods can be chained, so the following code is valid:

$validation->setData($data)->setFields($fields);

Set data

Set the array which will be used to validate.

$validation->setData($array);

Get data

Get the array which will be used to validate.

$validation->getData();

Set type

Set the request array which will be used to validate. This is just syntactic sugar.

$validation->setType('post');

That is the equivalent to this:

$validation->setData(Request::post());

Set fields

Set the array which contains the fields definitions.

$validation->setFields($fields);

Get invalid values

Get an array with all the invalid values.

$validation->getInvalidValues();

If the age key doesn't not meet the minimum value condition and the name key doesn't not meet the minimum length, it should return this:

Array
(
    [name] => Array
        (
            [0] => minlen
        )

    [age] => Array
        (
            [0] => minval
        )

)

An associative array where every element is an array of conditions that the element didn't meet.

Is valid

Returns true if the array matches with all the conditions, false otherwise.

$validation->isValid();

Check

This is just syntactic sugar for the setFields, setData and isValid methods in that order.

The first parameter is the fields array, the second is the data array. This method returns true if the giving data array meets the conditions in the giving fields array.

$validation->check($fields, $data);