Laravel: validate json object - json

Question

It's the first time i am using validation in laravel. I am trying to apply validation rule on below json object. The json object name is payload and example is given below.
payload = {
"name": "jason123",
"email": "email#xyz.com",
"password": "password",
"gender": "male",
"age": 21,
"mobile_number": "0322 8075833",
"company_name": "xyz",
"verification_status": 0,
"image_url": "image.png",
"address": "main address",
"lattitude": 0,
"longitude": 0,
"message": "my message",
"profession_id": 1,
"designation_id": 1,
"skills": [
{
"id": 1,
"custom" : "new custom1"
}
]
}
And the validation code is like below, for testing purpose i am validating name as a digits. When i executed the below code, the above json object is approved and inserted into my database. Instead, it should give me an exception because i am passing name with alpha numeric value, am i doing something wrong:
public function store(Request $request)
{
$this->validate($request, [
'name' => 'digits',
'age' => 'digits',
]);
}

Answer 1

Please try this way
use Validator;
public function store(Request $request)
{
//$data = $request->all();
$data = json_decode($request->payload, true);
$rules = [
'name' => 'digits:8', //Must be a number and length of value is 8
'age' => 'digits:8'
];
$validator = Validator::make($data, $rules);
if ($validator->passes()) {
//TODO Handle your data
} else {
//TODO Handle your error
dd($validator->errors()->all());
}
}
digits:value
The field under validation must be numeric and must have an exact length of value.

Answer 2

I see some helpful answers here, just want to add - my preference is that controller functions only deal with valid requests. So I keep all validation in the request. Laravel injects the request into the controller function after validating all the rules within the request. With one small tweak (or better yet a trait) the standard FormRequest works great for validating json posts.
Client example.js
var data = {first: "Joe", last: "Dohn"};
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.open("POST",'//laravel.test/api/endpoint');
xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xmlhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
project/routes/api.php
Route::any('endpoint', function (\App\Http\Requests\MyJsonRequest $request){
dd($request->all());
});
app/Http/Requests/MyJsonRequest.php (as generated by php artisan make:request MyJsonRequest)
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class MyJsonRequest extends FormRequest{
public function authorize(){
return true;//you'll want to secure this
}
public function rules(){
return [
'first' => 'required',
'last' => 'required|max:69',
];
}
//All normal laravel request/validation stuff until here
//We want the JSON...
//so we overload one critical function with SOMETHING LIKE this
public function all($keys = null){
if(empty($keys)){
return parent::json()->all();
}
return collect(parent::json()->all())->only($keys)->toArray();
}
}

Answer 3

Your payload should be payload: { then you can do
$this->validate($request->payload, [
'name' => 'required|digits:5',
'age' => 'required|digits:5',
]);
or if you are not sending the payload key you can just use $request->all()

Answer 4

$request->merge([
'meta_data' => !is_null($request->meta_data) ? json_encode($request->meta_data) : null
]);
validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
'meta_data' => 'nullable|json'
]);

Answer 5

Use the Validator factory class instead using validate method derived from controller's trait. It accepts array for the payload, so you need to decode it first
\Validator::make(json_decode($request->payload, true), [
'name' => 'digits',
'age' => 'digits',
]);

Answer 6

Following the example of #tarek-adam, in Laravel 9 it would be:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class MyJsonRequest extends FormRequest{
public function authorize(){
return true;//you'll want to secure this
}
public function rules(){
return [
'first' => 'required',
'last' => 'required|max:69',
];
}
//All normal laravel request/validation stuff until here
//We want the JSON...
//so we overload one critical function with SOMETHING LIKE this
public function validationData()
{
if(empty($this->all())){
$res = [
'success' => false,
'message' => 'Check your request',
];
throw new HttpResponseException(
response()->json($res, 422)
);
}
return $this->all();
}
}