Self validating models for Laravel 3.1's built-in Eloquent ORM

If you looking to include Aware in your laravel 4 project, you can find the repository here.

php artisan bundle:install aware

add the following to application/bundles.php

'aware' => array(
  'autoloads' => array(
    'map' => array(
      'Aware' => '(:bundle)/model.php'
    ),
  )
),

1. eloquent 2 / Laravel 3.1 support
2. removed temporary attributes
3. overridable onSave function

• Aware 2.0.0 only supports Laravel 3.1, if you're using Laravel <= 3.0 download version 1.2
• Remember Aware no longer supports temporary attributes! if a validation rule isn't used every time put it in the controller

• Basic
• Validation
• Retrieving Errors
• Overriding Validation
• onSave
• Custom Error Messages
• Custom Validation Rules

Aware aims to extend the Eloquent model without changing its core functionality. All Eloquent models are compatible with Aware.

To create a new Aware model, simply extend the Aware class:

class User extends Aware {}

Aware models use Laravel's built-in Validator class. Defining validation rules for a model is simple:

class User extends Aware {

  /**
   * Aware validation rules
   */
  public static $rules = array(
    'name' => 'required',
    'email' => 'required|email'
  );

  ...

}

Aware models validate themselves automatically when Aware->save() is called.

$user = new User();
$user->name = 'Colby';
$user->email = 'crabideau5691@gmail.com';
$user->save(); // returns false if model is invalid

note: You also can validate a model at an time using the Aware->valid() method.

When an Aware model fails to validate, a Laravel\Messages object is attached to the Aware object.

Retrieve all errors with Aware->errors->all().

Retrieve errors for a specific attribute using Aware->errors->get('attribute').

note: Aware leverages Laravel's Messages object which has an simple and elegant method of formatting errors

There are two ways to override Aware's validation:

force_save() validates the model but saves regardless of whether or not there are errors

both Aware->save($rules, $messages) and Aware->valid($rules, $messages) take to parameters

$rules is an array of Validator rules of the same form as Aware->rules. The same is true of the $messages parameter.

An array that is not empty will override the rules or messages specified by the class for that instance of the method only.

note: the default value for $rules and $messages is array(), if you pass an array() nothing will be overriden

Aware provides a convenient method for performing actions when either $model->save() is called. For example, use onSave to automatically hash a users password:

class User extends Aware {

  public function onSave()
  {
    // if there's a new password, hash it
    if($this->changed('password'))
    {
      $this->password = Hash::make($this->password);
    }

    return true;
  }

}

Notice that onSave returns a boolean. If you would like to halt save, return false.

Note: force_save() has it's own onForceSave() method, which behaves just like onSave.

Just like, $rules and $messages, onSave can be overridden at call time. Simply pass a closure to the save function.

$user-save(array(), array(), function ($model) {
  echo "saving!";
  return true;
});

Note: the closure should have one parameter as it will be passed a reference to the model being saved.

Just like the Laravel Validator, Aware lets you set custom error messages using the same sytax.

class User extends Aware {

  /**
   * Aware Messages
   */
  public static $messages = array(
    'required' => 'The :attribute field is required.'
  );

  ...

}

You can create custom validation rules the same way you would for the Laravel Validator.