Empty values passed to Zend framework 2 validators

Question

How can I pass an empty value through Zend framework 2 ValidatorChain to my custom validator?

It was possible on ZF1 by allowEmpty(false)

On ZF2 with empty element value :

If allowEmpty = false, NotEmptyValidator is added to the top of ValidatorChain with breakOnFailure = true, @see Zend/InputFilter/Input#injectNotEmptyValidator.
If allowEmpty = true, Element is considered as Valid, @see Zend/InputFilter/BaseInputFilter#isValid
```
if ($input->allowEmpty()) {
    $this->validInputs[$name] = $input;
    continue;
}
```

It's not what i need because if allow_empty = true and my element value is empty, zf2 consider that element is Valid and will not invoke validators. — deyine
– deyine, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 14:29
I think i don't understand your problem then. Either you allow empty values or you don't. If you don't allow empty values, all validators will run, otherwise validation will fail, when an empty input is given. If you do allow them, an empty value doesn't need to be validated any further oO — Sam
– Sam, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 15:29
Ok to simplify description, how can i, with zf2, applicate a custom validator on a field even if it's empty. — deyine
– deyine, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 15:47
Simplifying isn't the way to go. What do you want to validate? "" is empty - there is no validation for that. It's an empty string, what the heck do you want to validate with this? It just makes not the slightest sense. What EXACTLY do you want to do? — Sam
– Sam, Commented Feb 16, 2013 at 17:39

smottt · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-22 09:05:20Z

27

continue_if_empty solved my problem. Thanks to @dson-horácio-junior. This is what I used:

$this->add(array(
    'name' => 'field',
    'continue_if_empty' => true,
    'filters' => array(
        array('name' => 'StripTags'),
        array('name' => 'StringTrim')
    ),
    'validators' => array(
        array(
            'name' => 'Application\Form\Validator\Sample'
        )
    )
));

public function isValid($value, $context = null)
{
    if ($value == '' && $context['otherfield'] == '') {
        $this->error(self::INVALID_FIELD);

        return false;
    }

    // ...
}

edited Mar 22, 2017 at 9:05

smottt

3,33011 gold badges41 silver badges47 bronze badges

answered Jul 8, 2014 at 12:55

anilyeni

7741 gold badge8 silver badges13 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

kachar Over a year ago

Best answer! Deserves more upvotes. If you set continue_if_empty to true then the InputFilter\Factory does not automatically add a NotEmpty validator, so all validation goes to the user defined validators.

Gizzmo Over a year ago

i took 30 minutes to find this option THANKS a lot

Ocramius · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-27 11:35:41Z

14

Following works for ZF2 version 2.1.1:

The problem (if I got it correctly) is that in following example, for empty values of 'fieldName', no validation is triggered. This can be quite annoying, though in

$input = new \Zend\InputFilter\Input('fieldName');

$input
    ->setAllowEmpty(true)
    ->setRequired(false)
    ->getValidatorChain()
    ->attach(new \Zend\Validator\Callback(function ($value) {
        echo 'called validator!';

        return true; // valid
    }));

$inputFilter = new \Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter();
$inputFilter->add($input);

$inputFilter->setData(array('fieldName' => 'value'));
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true, echoes 'called validator!'

$inputFilter->setData(array('fieldName' => ''));
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true, no output

$inputFilter->setData(array());
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true, no output

This is quite annoying when you have particular cases, like checking an URL assigned to a page in your CMS and avoiding collisions (empty URL is still an URL!).

There's a way of handling this for empty strings, which is to basically attach the NotEmpty validator on your own, and avoiding calls to setRequired and setAllowEmpty. This will basically tell Zend\InputFilter\Input#injectNotEmptyValidator not to utomatically attach a NotEmpty validator on its own:

$input = new \Zend\InputFilter\Input('fieldName');

$input
    ->getValidatorChain()
    ->attach(new \Zend\Validator\NotEmpty(\Zend\Validator\NotEmpty::NULL))
    ->attach(new \Zend\Validator\Callback(function ($value) {
        echo 'called validator!';

        return true; // valid
    }));

$inputFilter = new \Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter();
$inputFilter->add($input);

$inputFilter->setData(array('fieldName' => 'value'));
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true, echoes 'called validator!'

$inputFilter->setData(array('fieldName' => ''));
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // true, echoes 'called validator!'

$inputFilter->setData(array());
var_dump($inputFilter->isValid()); // false (null was passed to the validator)

If you also want to check against null, you will need to extend Zend\InputFilter\Input as following:

class MyInput extends \Zend\InputFilter\Input
{
    // disabling auto-injection of the `NotEmpty` validator
    protected function injectNotEmptyValidator() {}
}

edited Feb 27, 2013 at 11:35

answered Feb 16, 2013 at 21:47

Ocramius

25.5k8 gold badges106 silver badges110 bronze badges

3 Comments

deyine Over a year ago

You've go it,I want to check against null and empty, so your last solution confirms my implementation. Thanks a lot.

Edson Horacio Junior Over a year ago

Just do $input->setContinueIfEmpty(true); instead of extending Zend\InputFilter\Input, it will have the same effect, less work and more simple.

Zippp Over a year ago

NotEmpty::NULL - this helped. For those who uses fogetInputFilterSpecification() with arrays you need the following structure: 'validators' => [[ 'name' => NotEmpty::class, 'options' => [ 'type' => NotEmpty::NULL ]]]'

smottt · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-22 09:02:57Z

7

This triggered validation of my Callback validator when the value was an empty string:

'required'          => false,
'allow_empty'       => false,
'continue_if_empty' => true,
'validators'        => array(
    array(
        'name'    => 'Callback',
        'options' => array(
            'callback' => function ($value, $context = []) use ($self) {
                // ...
            }
        )
    )
)

The allow_empty initially invalidates the empty string and the continue_if_empty allows it to then be evaluated by the validators that follow.

edited Mar 22, 2017 at 9:02

smottt

3,33011 gold badges41 silver badges47 bronze badges

answered Nov 7, 2014 at 18:43

Onshop

3,0952 gold badges29 silver badges18 bronze badges

Comments

Wilt · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-08 07:18:22Z

2

I see often the people making the mistake using allowEmpty in the inputFilter config arrays. The string should be written with underscore separation not with camel case. So allow_empty will work:

'fieldName' => array(
    'name'        => 'fieldName',
    'required'    => true,
    'allow_empty' => true,
    'filters' => array(
        //... your filters ...
    )
    'validators' => array(
        //... your validators ...
    ),
);

meaning a field with key 'fieldName' must be present in the data, but its value is allowed to be empty.

edited Sep 8, 2015 at 7:18

answered Feb 11, 2015 at 11:11

Wilt

44.9k15 gold badges163 silver badges216 bronze badges

Comments

smottt · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-22 09:07:27Z

If you like to use a separate form validate class or a array notation for validate, you can do as follows:

$factory     = new Zend\InputFilter\Factory();
$inputFilter = new Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter();

$inputFilter->add($factory->createInput(array(
    'name' => 'name',
    'required' => false,
    'allowEmpty' => true,
    'filters' => array(
        array('name' => 'StripTags'),
        array('name' => 'StringTrim'),
    ),
    'validators' => array(
        array(
            'name' => 'StringLength',
            'options' => array(
                'encoding' => 'UTF-8',
                'min' => '8',
                'max' => '100',
            ),
        ),
    ),
)));

You can pass an array with required => false and allowEmpty => true to input filter factory (as I remember you can pass it directly to input filter too - not so sure).

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Empty values passed to Zend framework 2 validators

5 Answers 5

2 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

5 Answers 5

2 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related