ValidatorServiceProvider

The ValidatorServiceProvider provides a service for validating data. It is most useful when used with the FormServiceProvider, but can also be used standalone.

Parameters

none

Services

• validator: An instance of Validator.

• validator.mapping.class_metadata_factory: Factory for metadata loaders, which can read validation constraint information from classes. Defaults to StaticMethodLoader–ClassMetadataFactory.

  This means you can define a static loadValidatorMetadata method on your data class, which takes a ClassMetadata argument. Then you can set constraints on this ClassMetadata instance.

• validator.validator_factory: Factory for ConstraintValidators. Defaults to a standard ConstraintValidatorFactory. Mostly used internally by the Validator.

Registering

$app->register(new Silex\Provider\ValidatorServiceProvider());

Note

The Symfony Validator Component comes with the “fat” Silex archive but not with the regular one. If you are using Composer, add it as a dependency to your composer.json file:

"require": {
    "symfony/validator": "2.1.*"
}

Usage

The Validator provider provides a validator service.

Validating Values

You can validate values directly using the validateValue validator method:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

$app->get('/validate/{email}', function ($email) use ($app) {
    $errors = $app['validator']->validateValue($email, new Assert\Email());

    if (count($errors) > 0) {
        return (string) $errors;
    } else {
        return 'The email is valid';
    }
});

Validating Associative Arrays

Validating associative arrays is like validating simple values, with a collection of constraints:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Book
{
    public $title;
    public $author;
}

class Author
{
    public $first_name;
    public $last_name;
}

$book = array(
    'title' => 'My Book',
    'author' => array(
        'first_name' => 'Fabien',
        'last_name'  => 'Potencier',
    ),
);

$constraint = new Assert\Collection(array(
    'title' => new Assert\MinLength(10),
    'author' => new Assert\Collection(array(
        'first_name' => array(new Assert\NotBlank(), new Assert\MinLength(10)),
        'last_name'  => new Assert\MinLength(10),
    )),
));
$errors = $app['validator']->validateValue($book, $constraint);

if (count($errors) > 0) {
    foreach ($errors as $error) {
        echo $error->getPropertyPath().' '.$error->getMessage()."\n";
    }
} else {
    echo 'The book is valid';
}

Validating Objects

If you want to add validations to a class, you can define the constraint for the class properties and getters, and then call the validate method:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

$author = new Author();
$author->first_name = 'Fabien';
$author->last_name = 'Potencier';

$book = new Book();
$book->title = 'My Book';
$book->author = $author;

$metadata = $app['validator.mapping.class_metadata_factory']->getClassMetadata('Author');
$metadata->addPropertyConstraint('first_name', new Assert\NotBlank());
$metadata->addPropertyConstraint('first_name', new Assert\MinLength(10));
$metadata->addPropertyConstraint('last_name', new Assert\MinLength(10));

$metadata = $app['validator.mapping.class_metadata_factory']->getClassMetadata('Book');
$metadata->addPropertyConstraint('title', new Assert\MinLength(10));
$metadata->addPropertyConstraint('author', new Assert\Valid());

$errors = $app['validator']->validate($book);

if (count($errors) > 0) {
    foreach ($errors as $error) {
        echo $error->getPropertyPath().' '.$error->getMessage()."\n";
    }
} else {
    echo 'The author is valid';
}

You can also declare the class constraint by adding a static loadValidatorMetadata method to your classes:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class Book
{
    public $title;
    public $author;

    static public function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('title', new Assert\MinLength(10));
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('author', new Assert\Valid());
    }
}

class Author
{
    public $first_name;
    public $last_name;

    static public function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
    {
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('first_name', new Assert\NotBlank());
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('first_name', new Assert\MinLength(10));
        $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('last_name', new Assert\MinLength(10));
    }
}

$app->get('/validate/{email}', function ($email) use ($app) {
    $author = new Author();
    $author->first_name = 'Fabien';
    $author->last_name = 'Potencier';

    $book = new Book();
    $book->title = 'My Book';
    $book->author = $author;

    $errors = $app['validator']->validate($book);

    if (count($errors) > 0) {
        foreach ($errors as $error) {
            echo $error->getPropertyPath().' '.$error->getMessage()."\n";
        }
    } else {
        echo 'The author is valid';
    }
});

Note

Use addGetterConstraint() to add constraints on getter methods and addConstraint() to add constraints on the class itself.

Translation

To be able to translate the error messages, you can use the translator provider and register the messages under the validators domain:

$app['translator.domains'] = array(
    'validators' => array(
        'fr' => array(
            'This value should be a valid number.' => 'Cette valeur doit être un nombre.',
        ),
    ),
);

For more information, consult the Symfony2 Validation documentation.