Check if field exists in Input during validation using Laravel - validation

Question

I want to make sure that certain fields are posted as part of the form but I don;t mind if some are empty values.
The 'required' validation rule won't work as I am happy to accept empty strings. I have tried the below, but as the 'address2' field is never sent, the validator doesn't process it.
Any ideas?
$rules = array(
'address2' => 'attribute_exists'
);
class CustomValidator extends Illuminate\Validation\Validator {
public function validateAttributeExists($attribute, $value, $parameters)
{
return isset($this->data[$attribute]);
}
}

Answer 1

You can use Input::has('address2') to check if something is posted by address2 input name. See the example:
if(Input::has('address2')) {
// Do something!
}

Answer 2

In Laravel 5,
if($request->has('address2')){
// do stuff
}

Answer 3

You should make custom validator like this.
use Symfony\Component\Translation\TranslatorInterface;
class CustomValidator extends Illuminate\Validation\Validator {
public function __construct(TranslatorInterface $translator, $data, $rules, $messages = array())
{
parent::__construct($translator, $data, $rules, $messages);
$this->implicitRules[] = 'AttributeExists';
}
public function validateAttributeExists($attribute, $value, $parameters)
{
return isset($this->data[$attribute]);
}
}
This will make AttributeExists work without to use require. For more explain about this. When you want to create new validator rule. If you don't set it in $implicitRules, that method will not work out if you don't use require rule before it. You can find more info in laravel source code.

Answer 4

When you submit a form each and every field is posted, matter of fact is if you leave some filed empty then that field value is null or empty. Just check the POST parameters once, to do so open the firebug console in firefox and submit the form, then check the post parameters. As you want to accept empty string what is the use of any rule?
else You can do this
$addr2=Input::get('address2');
if(isset($addr2)){
//do here whatever you want
}else{
//do something else
$addr2='';//empty string
}

Answer 5

Actually, Laravel has a method to validate if an attribute exists even if not filled.
$rules = [
'something' => 'present'
];
All the validation rules are stored in Validator class (/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Validation/Validator.php), you can check for the implementation of each rule, even no documented rules.