How To Create Custom Validation Rules In PHP Laravel (Using Artisan Command)

Yo! Whats up guys. Today you will learn how to create custom Laravel validation class and use it in a real example.

Sometimes there might arise the requirement to create your own validation rules and start flying out of the Laravel builtin validation nest.

Prerequisites

You will learn how to do Google reCAPTCHA custom server side validation class with Laravel Validator.

Read how to create Google reCAPTCHA with Laravel form, not sure where ? Then I have an entire article on it, please feel free to read it How To Do Google reCAPTCHA Integration In PHP Laravel Forms.

Step 1 - Create Laravel Validation Rule

Run the following command to create GoogleRecaptcha validation rule class

php artisan make:rule GoogleRecaptcha

This will create GoogleRecaptcha validation rule class inside App/Rules folder

Step 2 - Know Your Validation Rule Class Details

When you open App/Rules/GoogleRecaptcha file. Then you will see the following bare bone code in it.

<?php

namespace App\Rules;

use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Rule;
use ReCaptcha\ReCaptcha;

class GoogleRecaptcha implements Rule
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        //
    }

    public function passes($attribute, $value)
    {
        
    }

    public function message()
    {
        
    }
}

__construct Function

In above rule I didn't need any extra variables for usage in this rule class so __construct is empty.

You can pass variables through the __contruct function while calling GoogleRecaptcha rule. Like the following

ContactsController

request()->validate([
  /** See this line this is where google recaptcha will be validated */
  'g-recaptcha-response' => new GoogleRecaptcha($someVariable),
]);

GoogleRecaptcha Class

class GoogleRecaptcha implments Rule{

  protected $someVariable;

  public function __construct($someVariable){
    $this->someVariable = $someVariable
  }

  public function passes($attribute, $value){
    /** SomeVariable can be access here like the following **/
    // $this->someVariable 
  }
}

Passes Function

By default Laravel passes form attribute ($attribute) and its value ($value) in passes method as seen in the code.

public function passes($attribute, $value)

Message Function

public function message()

When the validation fails you can pass the custom messages from this function.

Step 3 - GoogleRecaptcha Rule Class After Adding Code

When you add google validation then you will have the following code. I have removed comments just for the sake of demonstration. Make sure to include those.

<?php

namespace App\Rules;


use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Rule;
use ReCaptcha\ReCaptcha;


class GoogleRecaptcha implements Rule
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        //
    }


    public function passes($attribute, $value)
    {
        $recaptcha  = new ReCaptcha(env('RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY'));
        $response   = $recaptcha->verify($value, $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
        return $response->isSuccess();
    }


    public function message()
    {
        return 'Please verify recaptcha.';
    }
}

Step 4 - Using In ContactsController Store Method

For the sake of demo I am adding my validation in controller, proper way to add validation rules is in Requests Class to make your controller slim.

public function store()
{
    request()->validate([
        /** Other field validation exists, for the demo I have removed those */
        'g-recaptcha-response'  => new GoogleRecaptcha(),
    ]);

    /** Store Validate Data */
}

Conclusion

You learnt how to do added custom validation rules. So go ahead and implement them in your projects.

WHATS NEXT?

I highly suggest you to have a look at the following articles for beneficial

How To Do Google reCAPTCHA Integration In PHP Laravel Forms

How Make Your Controllers Slim By Adding Validation In Form Requests (Coming Soon)

Hope it helped you. Happy Coding :)