Validation only required when value is not available - laravel

Question

I have the following code:
{!! Form::select('the_selection', ['' => 'Nothing', 'Foo' => 'Bar']) !!}
And the following:
<input class="input" name="the_other_field" type="text"/>
The the_other_field field should be required only when the_selection is not '' .
So I tried tis validation:
$this->validate($request, [
// 'recurring' => 'required|nullable',
'the_other_field' => 'required_without:the_selection,|date_format:Y-m-d|after:today',
]);
But that doesnt work..

Answer 1

Use required_if
https://laravel.com/docs/5.6/validation
$this->validate($request, [
// 'recurring' => 'required|nullable',
'the_other_field' => 'required_if:recurring,|required_without:the_selection,|date_format:Y-m-d|after:today',
]);
If this not working you may do this:
$rules = [
'the_other_field' => ['date_format:Y-m-d', 'after:today'],
];
if ($request->get('the_selection') != null) {
array_push($rules['the_other_field'], 'required');
}
$this->validate($request, $rules);

Answer 2

If you move your validation to a form request, then you could add a “sometimes” validation rule:
class YourRequest extends FormRequest
{
public function authorize()
{
return true;
}
public function rules()
{
return [
'the_selection' => 'required',
];
}
public function withValidator($validator)
{
$validator->sometimes('the_other_field', 'required', function ($input) {
return $input->the_selection != '';
});
}
}