laravel-validation

name	laravel-validation
description	Form request validation and comprehensive validation testing. Use when creating or modifying form requests, validation rules, or validation tests.

Laravel Validation

Form requests as single source of truth for validation, with comprehensive testing patterns.

Core Concepts

form-requests.md - Validation rules:

• Array-based validation rules
• Custom validation rules
• Conditional validation
• Custom error messages
• DTO transformation via toDto()

validation-testing.md - Validation testing:

• RequestDataProviderItem helper
• Pest datasets for systematic testing
• Built-in helper methods (string, email, number, date, array, boolean)
• Presence testing with absent() (for present / sometimes / missing rules)
• Nested array testing
• Conditional validation testing
• Real-world examples

Pattern

final class CreateOrderRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'user_id' => ['required', 'integer', 'exists:users,id'],
            'items' => ['required', 'array', 'min:1'],
            'items.*.product_id' => ['required', 'integer'],
            'items.*.quantity' => ['required', 'integer', 'min:1'],
        ];
    }

    public function toDto(): CreateOrderDto
    {
        return CreateOrderDto::from($this->validated());
    }
}

All validation lives in form requests. Test validation systematically.