How to use sometimes rule in Laravel 5 request class

Question

I have the following request class:

<?php namespace App\Http\Requests\User;  use App\Http\Requests\Request; use Validator; use Session; use Auth; use App\User;  class RegisterStep1Request extends Request {      /**      * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.      *      * @return bool      */     public function authorize()     {         return true;     }      /**      * Set up the validation rules      */     public function rules()     {         Validator::extend('valid_date', function($attribute, $value, $parameters)         {             $pieces = explode('/', $value);             if(strpos($value, '/')===FALSE) {                 return false;             } else {                 if(checkdate($pieces[1], $pieces[0], $pieces[2])) {                     return true;                 } else {                     return false;                 }             }         });          return [             'first_name' => 'required',             'last_name' => 'required',             'email' => 'required|email|unique:users,email',             'dob' => 'required|regex:/[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{4}/|valid_date',             'mobile' => 'required',             'password' => 'required|confirmed'         ];     }      public function messages()     {         return [             'first_name.required' => 'The first name field is required.',             'last_name.required' => 'The last name field is required.',             'email.required' => 'The email address field is required.',             'email.email' => 'The email address specified is not a valid email address.',             'email.unique' => 'The email address is already registered with this website.',             'dob.required' => 'The date of birth field is required.',             'dob.regex' => 'The date of birth is invalid. Please use the following format: DD/MM/YYYY.',             'dob.valid_date' => 'The date of birth is invalid. Please check and try again.',             'mobile.required' => 'The mobile number field is required.',             'password.required' => 'The password field is required.',             'password.confirmed' => 'The confirm password field does not match the password field.'         ];     }  } 

I want to add the following sometimes rule:

Validator::sometimes('dob', 'valid_date', function($input) {     return apply_regex($input->dob) === true; }); 

How would I add this to my request class?

I have amended my rules method to the following:

public function rules() {     Validator::extend('valid_date', function($attribute, $value, $parameters)     {         $pieces = explode('/', $value);         if(strpos($value, '/')===FALSE) {             return false;         } else {             if(checkdate($pieces[1], $pieces[0], $pieces[2])) {                 return true;             } else {                 return false;             }         }     });      Validator::sometimes('dob', 'valid_date', function($input)     {         return apply_regex($input->dob) === true;     });      return [         'first_name' => 'required',         'last_name' => 'required',         'email' => 'required|email|unique:users,email',         'dob' => 'sometimes|required|regex:/[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{2}\/[0-9]{4}/|valid_date',         'mobile' => 'required',         'password' => 'required|confirmed'     ]; } 

But I now get the following error when I submit the form:

FatalErrorException in Facade.php line 216: Call to undefined method Illuminate\Validation\Factory::sometimes() 

Answer 1

There is a documented way to make changes to the request's validator instance in Laravel 5.4. You should implement the withValidator method for that.

Based on the example from @lukasgeiter's answer, you may add the following to your request class:

/**  * Configure the validator instance.  *  * @param  \Illuminate\Validation\Validator  $validator  * @return void  */ public function withValidator($validator) {     $validator->sometimes('dob', 'valid_date', function ($input) {         return apply_regex($input->dob) === true;     }); } 

By doing this you don't have to worry about overriding internal methods. Besides, this seems to be the official way for configuring the validator.

Answer 2

You can attach a sometimes() rule by overriding the getValidatorInstance() function in your form request:

protected function getValidatorInstance(){     $validator = parent::getValidatorInstance();      $validator->sometimes('dob', 'valid_date', function($input)     {         return apply_regex($input->dob) === true;     });      return $validator; }