How to validating a collection in Zend Framework 2 or 3

README.md

How to validating a collection in Zend Framework 2 or 3

What to use for

An HTML <form> post request may looks like:

$post = [
    'idUser' => 1,
    'address' => 'foo street',
];

You can easily create a Zend Form for this, filter and validate the user input. But what if you have to validate a list of users? Something more like:

$post = [
    [
        'idUser' => 1,
        'address' => 'foo street',
    ],
    [
        'idUser' => 2,
        'address' => 'bar street',
    ],
];

There is no name you could use to tell Zend Form how to validate the input. Thats where the Zend Collection Element comes in handy.

Structure of form/fieldset composition

UserAddressesForm
-> CollectionElement
  -> UserFieldset
    -> idUser
    -> (may other elements/fieldsets here)
    -> CollectionElement
      -> AddressesFieldset
        -> idAddress
        -> street
        -> (may other elements/fieldsets here)

Pay attention to

• the CollectionElement within the UserAddressesForm and UserFieldset. It is the only element in this form because of the form of the post request data.
• the validation group within UserAddressesForm::getValidationGroup()
• how to set the collections name within the controller: $form->setData(['collection' => $request->getPost()]);

For more information, have a look at the Zend Form Documentation Example

AddressesFieldset.php

<?php

namespace Application\Form;

use Zend\Form\Element\Number;
use Zend\Form\Element\Text;
use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterProviderInterface;

class AddressesFieldset extends Fieldset implements InputFilterProviderInterface
{

    /**
     * AddressesFieldset constructor.
     */
    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct('AddressesFieldset');
    }


    /**
     */
    public function init()
    {
        $this->addElementIdAddress();
        $this->addElementStreet();
    }


    /**
     */
    protected function addElementIdAddress()
    {
        $this->add(
            [
                'type' => Number::class,
                'name' => 'idAddress',
            ]
        );
    }


    /**
     */
    protected function addElementStreet()
    {
        $this->add(
            [
                'type' => Text::class,
                'name' => 'street',
            ]
        );
    }
    
    
    public function isValid()


    /**
     * @inheritDoc
     */
    public function getInputFilterSpecification()
    {
        return [
            'idStreet' => [
                'required' => true,
                'filters' => [
                    // add your filters here
                ],
                'validators' => [
                    // add your validators here
                ],
            ],
            'street' => [
                'required' => true,
                'filters' => [
                    // add your filters here
                ],
                'validators' => [
                    // add your validators here
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}

IndexController.php

<?php

namespace Application\Controller;

class IndexController extends AbstractController
{

    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function indexAction()
    {

        $request = $this->getRequest();
        if ($request->isPost()) {
            $form = new UserAddressesForm();
            // check the 'collection' here, this is the important trick
            $form->setData(['collection' => $request->getPost()]);

            if ($form->isValid()) {
                var_dump($product);
            }
        }

        return [
            'form' => $form,
        ];
    }
}

post.json

[
    {
        "idUser": "1",
        "addresses": [
            {
                "idAddress": "1",
                "street": "foo street"
            },
            {
                "idAddress": "2",
                "street": "bar street"
            }
        ]
    },
    {
        "idUser": "2",
        "addresses": [
            {
                "idAddress": "3",
                "street": "miep street"
            }
        ]
    }
]

UserAddressesForm.php

<?php

namespace Application\Form;

use Zend\Form\Element\Collection;
use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter;

class UserAddressesForm extends Form
{
    /**
     * UserAddressesForm constructor.
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct('UserAddressesForm');

        $this->setInputFilter(new InputFilter());
        $this->addCollectionElement();
    }


    /**
     */
    public function addCollectionElement(): void
    {
        $this->add(
            [
                'type' => Collection::class,
                'name' => 'collection',
                'options' => [
                    'target_element' => [
                        'type' => UserFieldset::class,
                    ],
                ],
            ]
        );
    }


    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function getValidationGroup()
    {
        return [
            'collection' => [
                'idUser',
                'address' => [
                    'idAddress',
                    'street',
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}

UserFieldset.php

<?php

namespace Application\Form;

use Zend\Form\Element\Collection;
use Zend\Form\Element\Number;
use Zend\Form\Element\Text;
use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterProviderInterface;

class UserFieldset extends Fieldset implements InputFilterProviderInterface
{

    /**
     * GroupFieldset constructor.
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct('UserFieldset');

        $this->addIdUserElement();
        $this->addCollectionElement();
    }


    /**
     */
    protected function addIdUserElement(): void
    {
        $this->add(
            [
                'type' => Number::class,
                'name' => 'idUser',
            ]
        );
    }

    
    /**
     */
    public function addCollectionElement(): void
    {
        $this->add(
            [
                'type' => Collection::class,
                'name' => 'addresses',
                'options' => [
                    'target_element' => [
                        'type' => AddressFieldset::class,
                    ],
                ],
            ]
        );
    }


    /**
     * @inheritDoc
     */
    public function getInputFilterSpecification()
    {
        return [
            'idUser' => [
                'required' => true,
                'filters' => [
                    // add your filters here
                ],
                'validators' => [
                    // add your validators here
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}