Making Laravel 9 validation rule that is unique on 2 columns - laravel

Question

I am trying to update a row in the pages table.
The slug must be unique in the pages table on the slug and app_id field combined.
i.e. there can be multiple slugs entitled 'this-is-my-slug' but they must have unique app_id.
Therefore I have found that formula for the unique rule is:
unique:table,column,except,idColumn,extraColumn,extraColumnValue
I have an update method and getValidationRules method.
public function update($resource,$id,$request){
$app_id=22;
$request->validate(
$this->getValidationRules($id,$app_id)
);
// ...store
}
When I test for just a unique slug the following works:
public function getValidationRules($id,$app_id){
return [
'title'=> 'required',
'slug'=> 'required|unique:pages,slug,'.$id
];
}
However, when I try and add the app_id into the validation rules it returns server error.
public function getValidationRules($id,$app_id){
return [
'title'=> 'required',
'slug'=> 'required|unique:pages,slug,'.$id.',app_id,'.$app_id
];
}
I have also tried to use the Rule facade, but that also returns server error. Infact I can't even get that working for just the ignore id!
public function getValidationRules($id,$app_id){
return [
'title'=> 'required',
'slug'=> [Rule::unique('pages','slug')->where('app_id',$app_id)->ignore($id)]
];
}
Any help is much appreciated :)

Answer 1

Thanks for the respsonses. It turned out a couple of things were wrong.
Firstly if you want to use the Rule facade for the validation rules, make sure you've included it:
use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;
The other method for defining the validation rule seems to be limited to the following pattern:
unique:table,column,except,idColumn
The blog post that I read that showed you could add additional columns was for laravel 7, so i guess that is no longer the case for laravel 9.
Thanks for your responses and help in the chat!

Answer 2

I recommend you to add your own custom rule.
First run artisan make:rule SlugWithUniqueAppIdRule
This will create new file/class inside App\Rules called SlugWIthUniqueAppRule.php.
Next inside, lets add your custom rule and message when error occured.
public function passes($attribute, $value)
{
// I assume you use model Page for table pages
$app_id = request()->id;
$pageExists = Page::query()
->where('slug', $slug)
->where('app_id', $app_id)
->exists();
return !$pageExists;
}
public function message()
{
return 'The slug must have unique app id.';
}
Than you can use it inside your validation.
return [
'title'=> 'required|string',
'slug' => new SlugWithUniqueAppIdRule(),
];
You can try it again and adjust this custom rule according to your needs.
Bonus:
I recommend to move your form request into separate class.
Run artisan make:request UpdateSlugAppRequest
And check this newly made file in App\Http\Requests.
This request class by default will consists of 2 public methods : authorize() and rules().
Change authorize to return true, or otherwise this route can not be accessed.
Move your rules array from controller into rules().
public function rules()
{
return [
'title'=> 'required|string',
'slug' => new SlugWithUniqueAppIdRule(),
];
}
To use it inside your controller:
public function update(UpdateSlugAppRequest $request, $resource, $id){
// this will return validated inputs in array format
$validated = $request->validated();
// ...store process , move to a ServiceClass
}
This will make your controller a lot slimmer.