cakephp-validation-exposer

Easily expose your CakePHP 3.x application validation rules.

Why use it?

Exposing your application's validation rules can be very useful for e.g. completely separated frontend applications. Imagine a React frontend for your API being able to realtime configure (very fast) local validation rules exactly matching your CakePHP API backend's validation rules. Some benefits:

• no more mismatches between local and backend validations
• backend validation changes instantly applied in frontend application
• no more fire-and-hope POSTing of data
• less local 412 validation errors

Requirements

• CakePHP 3.0+

Installation

1. Install the plugin using composer:

   composer require alt3/cakephp-validation-exposer:"^1.0"

2. To enable the plugin either run the following command:

   bin/cake plugin load Alt3/ValidationExposer

   or manually add the following line to your config/bootstrap.php file:

   Plugin::load('Alt3/ValidationExposer');

Usage

1. Create a ValidationExposer object anywhere in your application
2. Call the rules() method
3. Present the returned array with validation information any way you see fit

API example

<?php
use Alt3\ValidationExposer\Lib\ValidationExposer;

class SystemController extends AppController
{

    public function validationInfo()
    {
        $validationExposer = new ValidationExposer([
            'excludedTables' => [
                'table_to_skip' // this table will not be processed
            ],
            'hiddenRuleParts' =>
                'message' // do not show this part inside the `rules` array
            ]
        ]);

        $this->set([
            'success' => true,
            'data' => $validationExposer->rules(),
            '_serialize' => ['success', 'data']
        ]);
    }
}

Configuration

Any table found in the excludedTables configuration array will not be searched for validation information.

Please note that the phinxlog table is excluded by default.

Add one or more of the following fields to the hiddenRuleParts configuration array and they will not appear in the result set:

• name: holds the rule name
• rule: holds the internal rule name (numeric, unique, etc)
• message: holds the validation message
• parts: holds arguments passed to the validation rule

Methods

rules()

Use the rules() method to produce a hash containing all validation information found in your application structured similarly to shown below:

[users] => Array
    (
        [id] => Array
            (
                [requiredFor] =>
                [allowedEmptyFor] => create
                [rules] => Array
                    (
                        [0] => Array
                            (
                                [name] => NUMERIC
                                [rule] => numeric
                                [message] =>
                            )

                    )

            )

        [email] => Array
            (
                [requiredFor] => create
                [allowedEmptyFor] =>
                [rules] => Array
                    (
                        [0] => Array
                            (
                                [name] => FORMAT
                                [rule] => email
                                [message] => Invalid email address format.
                            )

                        [1] => Array
                            (
                                [name] => UNIQUE
                                [rule] => validateUnique
                                [message] => This email address already exists
                            )

                    )

            )

        [password] => Array
            (
                [requiredFor] => create
                [allowedEmptyFor] =>
                [rules] => Array
                    (
                        [0] => Array
                            (
                                [name] => MIN_LENGTH
                                [rule] => minLength
                                [message] => Your password must be at least {minLength} characters.
                                [pass] => Array
                                    (
                                        [0] => 8
                                    )

                            )

                        [1] => Array
                            (
                                [name] => MAX_LENGTH
                                [rule] => maxLength
                                [message] => Your password cannot exceed {maxLength} characters
                                [pass] => Array
                                    (
                                        [0] => 255
                                    )

                            )
                    )
            )
        )

tables()

Use the tables() method to produce a flat array with all tables included in validation aggregation.

(
    [0] => cocktails
    [1] => liquors
    [2] => users
)

excludedTables()

Use the excludedTables() method to produce a flat array with tables not included in validation aggregation.

(
    [0] => phinxlog
    [1] => staging
)

Contribute

Before submitting a PR make sure:

• PHPUnit and CakePHP Code Sniffer tests pass
• Coveralls Code Coverage remains at 100%