One-shot laravel validator - laravel

Question

I have a form where someone searches for something. Based on this form, I validate if the input is correct:
$validator = Validator::make(Input::all() , array(
'address' =>'required',
));
if($validator->fails()) {
return Redirect::to('/')->withErrors($validator);
}
After this, I want to validate something else (that a result object isn't empty), which is completely unrelated to the search. In other words, it's NOT input from a form.
1) Do I create another validator to validate this? Or
2) Is there a better way to simply check this value and spawn an object that can be returned with "withErrors"?
UPDATE
This isn't working for me:
$validator = Validator::make(
array(
'searches' => sizeof($search)
) ,
array(
'searches' => 'required|min:1'
)
);
if($validator->fails()) {
return Redirect::to('/')->withErrors($validator);
}
It's not working because for some reason it's picking up that the "searches" item should only be validated "sometimes"

Answer 1

you have two ways. one is custom validator
or there is a simpler way,
suppose,
private function foo()
{
$data = ''; //retrieved the data error here with whatever call you want to make
return !empty($data) ? true : false;
}
in the controller,
public function bar()
{
if(!$this->foo())
{
$messages = new \Illuminate\Support\MessageBag;
// you should use interface here. i directly made the object call for the sake of simplicity.
$messages->add('custom', 'custom error');
return Redirect::back()->withErrors($messages)->withInput();
}
}
in the view:
#if($errors->has('custom'))
<p>custom error output.</p>
#endif
it is just the outline to give you the idea.