Laravel: validate json object

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();
    }
}