Request validation basics in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Request validation basics

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Laravel web application where users can submit their contact information through a form. To keep the data clean and safe, you need to validate the user input before saving it.

🎯 Goal: Build a Laravel controller method that validates a request with specific rules for name, email, and age fields.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a controller method named store that accepts a Request object

Add validation rules for name, email, and age fields

Use Laravel's $request->validate() method for validation

Return the validated data as an array

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Validating user input is essential in web applications to ensure data integrity and security before processing or saving it.

💼 Career

Understanding Laravel request validation is a key skill for backend developers working with Laravel to build robust and secure web applications.

1

Create the store method with a Request parameter

Create a public method called store inside a controller class that accepts a parameter named $request of type Request.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ContactController extends Controller
{
    // Create the store method with Request parameter
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Define a public function named store that takes Request $request as input.

2

Define validation rules array

Inside the store method, create a variable named $rules that is an array with these exact keys and values: 'name' => 'required|string|max:255', 'email' => 'required|email', and 'age' => 'nullable|integer|min:18'.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ContactController extends Controller
{
    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        // Create the validation rules array
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use an associative array with keys name, email, and age and their validation rules as strings.

3

Validate the request using $request->validate()

Use the $request->validate() method with the $rules array to validate the incoming data inside the store method. Store the result in a variable named $validatedData.

Laravel

 'required|string|max:255',
            'email' => 'required|email',
            'age' => 'nullable|integer|min:18'
        ];
        // Validate the request using $rules
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Call $request->validate($rules) and assign the result to $validatedData.

4

Return the validated data

At the end of the store method, return the $validatedData variable.

Laravel

 'required|string|max:255',
            'email' => 'required|email',
            'age' => 'nullable|integer|min:18'
        ];
        $validatedData = $request->validate($rules);
        // Return the validated data
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use return $validatedData; to send back the validated input.