Laravel request remove fields before validation - laravel

Question

I am trying to remove some fields before they are validated.
Trying to attempt this inside prepareForValidation()
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class VideoRequest extends ApiRequest
{
// ..code..
protected function prepareForValidation()
{
$this->merge([
'public' => $this->toBoolean($this->public),
'notify' => $this->toBoolean($this->notify),
]);
$video_id = $this->route('video_id');
if($this->isMethod('put') && Video::salesStarted($video_id)){
Log::info('removing sales');
// attempt 1
$this->except(['sales_start', 'tickets', 'price']);
// attempt 2
$this->request->remove('sales_start');
// attempt 3
$this->offsetUnset('sales_start');
}
if($this->isMethod('put') && Video::streamStarted($video_id)){
Log::info('removing streams');
// attempt 1
$this->except(['stream_start', 'stream_count', 'archive']);
// attempt 2
$this->request->remove('sales_start');
// attempt 3
$this->offsetUnset('sales_start');
}
$thumb = $this->uploadThumbnail($video_id);
if($thumb !== null){
$this->merge($thumb);
}
}
// ..code..
}
I made sure the code was entering inside the if statement, however the fields are not being removed.
Running $this->request->remove() and $this->except() have no effect.
If I add safe() it throws Call to a member function safe() on null.
I also tried to use unset() but nothing seems to work.
The rules for the dates are like so:
'sales_start' => 'sometimes|required|date|after:now|before:stream_start',
'stream_start' => 'sometimes|required|date|after:now',
but the $request->validated() returns the errors although it shouldn't be validating the deleted fields.
"sales_start": [
"The sales start must be a date after now."
],
"stream_start": [
"The stream start must be a date after now."
]
Why are the fields not being deleted?
Edit
As requested I added some code.
This is what ApiRequest looks like:
use Illuminate\Http\Exceptions\HttpResponseException;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Validator;
abstract class ApiRequest extends FormRequest
{
protected function failedValidation(Validator $validator): void
{
$response['data'] = [];
$response['api_status'] = 'ng';
$response['status_message'] = 'failed validation';
$response['errors'] = $validator->errors()->toArray();
throw new HttpResponseException(
response()->json( $response, 422 )
);
}
protected function toBoolean($booleable)
{
return filter_var($booleable, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN, FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE);
}
}
And the request is called from the controller like so:
public function update(VideoRequest $request, $video_id)
{
... some code ...
$validated = $request->validated();
... some code ...
}
so $this refers to the VideoRequest that extends FormRequest.

Answer 1

Can't find anything about deleting. But acording to Laravel docs you pick what keys you need from a request as follows:
$request->only(['username', 'password']);
// plug everything you need into the array.
$request->except(['username', 'password']);
//plug everything you don't need into the array
The latter is probably most useful to you.
Example:
Say I have the following keys: ['username', 'password', 'randomVal'];
$request->only(['username', 'password']);
// Output:
['username', 'password']
$request->except(['username', 'password']);
// Output:
['randomVal']

Answer 2

To remove (unset) a key from a Request before it goes to the Controller you can use offsetUnset()
inside your request:
protected function prepareForValidation()
{
$this->offsetUnset('sales_start');//same goes for the other key to remove...
}

Answer 3

This is a bit of an ugly answer.
Instead of modifying the request before the validation, I tried adding exclude when getting rules().
So something along these lines:
public function rules() {
$ex = $this->isMethod('put') && Video::salesStarted($video_id) ? 'exclude|' : '';
return [
'sales_start' => $ex.'sometimes|required|other_stuff',
];
}
Note that the validation 'exclude' only works if added first.
So this won't work:
'sometimes|required|other_stuff|exclude' //exclude is called last
I am still unable to find out why remove(), exclude(), offsetUnset() were not working, so this is not the right answer, but I hope it helps if someone is having the same issue.
Edit
Setting this as correct answer as I was unable to find an alternative solution/fix.