Identify issues with this form validation

Question

I'm using Laravel 5.8 and I've made this controller method to create some records in the database.

public function doTheUpload(Request $request)
{
    try{
        $request->validate([
            'video' => 'nullable|mimes:mp4',
            'video_thumb' => 'required|mimes:jpg,png,jpeg',
            'video_name' => 'required',
            'video_desc' => 'nullable',
            'available_download' => 'nullable',
        ],[
            'video.mimes' => 'video file format is not valid',
            'video_thumb.required' => 'uploading video thumbnail is required',
            'video_name.required' => 'you must enter name of video',
            'video_thumb.mimes' => 'image thumbnail file format is not valid',
        ]);

        //Do the upload process

    }catch(\Exception $e){
        dd($e);
    }
}

But this will not work and returns this error:

The given data is invalid.

This is basically because of the form validation requests and when I remove these validations from the method it works just fine.

So what's wrong with the validation of those form requests that return this error?

If you know, please let me know...I'd really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Thank you.

Answer 1

You must specify exactly what you want to verify:

$request->validate([
    'request.video' => 'nullable|mimes:mp4',
    'request.video_thumb' => 'required|mimes:jpg,png,jpeg',
    'request.video_name' => 'required',
    'request.video_desc' => 'nullable',     
    'request.available_download' => 'nullable',
], [
    'request.video.mimes' => 'video file format is not valid',
    'request.video_thumb.required' => 'uploading video thumbnail is required',
    'request.video_name.required' => 'you must enter name of video',
    'request.video_thumb.mimes' => 'image thumbnail file format is not valid',
]);

My code example:

$requestData = $request->request_data;
        
        // data
        $company_name = $requestData['company_name'];
        $company_type = $requestData['company_type'];
        $company_address = $requestData['company_address'];
        $latitude = $requestData['latitude'];
        $longitude = $requestData['longitude'];
        $company_branch_count = $requestData['company_branch_count'];
        $yes_radio = strval($requestData['yes_radio']);
        $no_radio = strval($requestData['no_radio']);
        $company_contact_user_first_name = $requestData['company_contact_user_first_name'];
        $company_contact_user_last_name = $requestData['company_contact_user_last_name'];
        $company_contact_user_email = $requestData['company_contact_user_email'];
        $company_contact_user_password = $requestData['company_contact_user_password'];
        $company_contact_user_phone = $requestData['company_contact_user_phone'];
        $company_kvkk_ok = strval($requestData['company_kvkk_ok']);
        $shipping_method_yourself = $yes_radio === 'true' && $yes_radio != $no_radio ? 1 : 0;

        if ($company_kvkk_ok == 'false') {
            return json_encode([
                'operation_status' => 'error',
                'error_messages' => 'no',
            ]);
        }

        // Validate
        $validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
            "request_data.company_name" => "required|string|min:5",
            "request_data.company_type" => "required|in:0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12",
            "request_data.company_address" => "required",
            "request_data.latitude" => "required",
            "request_data.longitude" => "required",
            "request_data.company_branch_count" => "required|integer",
            "request_data.yes_radio" => "required",
            "request_data.no_radio" => "required",
            "request_data.company_contact_user_first_name" => "required",
            "request_data.company_contact_user_last_name" => "required",
            "request_data.company_contact_user_email" => [
                'required',
                'email',
                Rule::unique('users', 'email')->where(function ($query) use ($company_contact_user_email) {
                    return $query->where('email', $company_contact_user_email);
                }),
                Rule::unique('companies', 'company_contact_user_email')->where(function ($query) use ($company_contact_user_email) {
                    return $query->where('company_contact_user_email', $company_contact_user_email);
                }),
            ],
            "request_data.company_contact_user_password" => "required|min:6",
            "request_data.company_contact_user_phone" => "required",
            "request_data.company_kvkk_ok" => "required",
        ], [
            'request_data.company_name.required' => __('company name required'),
            'request_data.company_name.string' => __('company name must be string'),
            'request_data.company_name.min' => __('company name must be at least 5 characters'),
            'request_data.company_type.required' => __('company type required'),
            'request_data.company_type.in' => __('company type invalid'),
            'request_data.company_address.required' => __('company address required'),
            'request_data.latitude.required' => __('latitude required'),
            'request_data.longitude.required' => __('longitude required'),
            'request_data.company_branch_count.required' => __('company branch count required'),
            'request_data.company_branch_count.integer' => __('company branch count must be integer'),
            'request_data.yes_radio.required' => __('yes radio required'),
            'request_data.no_radio.required' => __('no radio required'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_first_name.required' => __('company contact user first name required'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_last_name.required' => __('company contact user last name required'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_email.required' => __('company contact user email required'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_email.email' => __('company contact user email invalid'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_email.unique' => __('email already taken'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_password.required' => __('company contact user password required'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_password.min' => __('company contact user password must be at least 6 characters'),
            'request_data.company_contact_user_phone.required' => __('company contact user phone required'),
            'request_data.company_kvkk_ok.required' => __('company kvkk ok required'),
        ]);

        if ($validator->fails()) {
            $messages = $validator->messages();
            return json_encode([
                'operation_status' => 'not_validated',
                'request' => $requestData,
                'messages' => $messages,
            ]);
        }

Answer 2

When you use Laravel's validation, you should let Laravel handle errors because Laravel will automatically throw an exception when a rule fails. Therefore, the first suggestion is not to use try-catch blocks in validation routines.

As the Laravel documentation states:

Also, I recommend you not to use validation in your controller because according to good practice it is recommended to create a separate formRequest for validation, so you should slightly modify your controller to include a validator class:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

...
use App\Http\Requests\UploadVideoRequest;

...

public function doTheUpload(UploadVideoRequest $request)
{
    /*
    * Here where are calling validation as UploadVideoRequest
    */

    // logic for valid uploaded video
}

Now you have to create a form request, maybe using php artisan make:request UploadVideoRequest This command will create a form request class under app/Http/Requests which you should fill with:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class UploadVideoRequest extends FormRequest
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function authorize()
    {
        /*
        * here you should check if the user is authorized to upload video 
        * or let in true if anyone can do that
        */
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'video' => 'nullable|mimes:mp4',
            'video_thumb' => 'required|mimes:jpg,png,jpeg',
            'video_name' => 'required',
            'video_desc' => 'nullable',
            'available_download' => 'nullable',
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Define messages to return if an error is detected.
     *
     * @return array
     */

    public function messages()
    {
        return [
            'video.mimes' => 'video file format is not valid',
            'video_thumb.required' => 'uploading video thumbnail is required',
            'video_name.required' => 'you must enter name of video',
            'video_thumb.mimes' => 'image thumbnail file format is not valid',
        ];
    }

}

By using this approach, Laravel validates user input and manages any errors through exceptions.

greeting.