Unique validation with category for insert and update in Laravel

Question

I have list of items with related categories (table name is : items)

--- id ------ category_id ----- name
--- 1 ------- 1 ---------------- aa  --> Valid
--- 2 ------- 1 ---------------- bb  --> Valid
--- 3 ------- 2 ---------------- aa  --> Valid
--- 4 ------- 2 ---------------- bb  --> Valid
--- 5 ------- 1 ---------------- aa  --> InValid because same name exist in same category
--- 6 ------- 2 ---------------- bb  --> InValid because same name exist in same category

---

As In Laravel documention

Unique rule will not work here as for category wise, It validates name for all records.

public function validateItems($requestAll){
    $id = isset($requestAll['id']) ? ','.$requestAll['id'].',id':'';
    $rules = [
        'name' => 'required|unique:items,name'.$id,
        'category' => 'required'
    ];
    return Validator::make($requestAll, $rules);
}

How to validate items with related categories for insert and update in Laravel.

Answer 1

I think you need something like

'name' => Rule::unique('items')->where(function ($query) use ($categoryId) {
    return $query->where('category_id', $categoryId);
}),

UPD: For update existing row:

'name' => Rule::unique('items')->ignore($existingRecordId)->where(function ($query) use ($categoryId) {
    return $query->where('category_id', $categoryId);
}),

Answer 2

If you have category_id in your request then this could work.

public function validateItems($requestAll){
   $id = isset($requestAll['id']) ? $requestAll['id'] : 'NULL'; //with PHP7 it could be $id = $requestAll['id'] ?? 'NULL';
   $categoryId = $requestAll['category_id']; //i don't know if it exists in your request.
   $rules = [
      'name' => 'required|unique:items,name,'.$id.',id,category_id,'.$categoryId,
      'category' => 'required'
   ];
   return Validator::make($requestAll, $rules);
}