Troubleshooting
Validation package issues and fixes.
Rule Issues
Rule not recognized
Problem: Unknown rule: my_rule
Cause: Custom rule not registered.
Fix: Register custom rules:
$validator->extend('my_rule', function ($value, $params) {
return $value > $params[0];
});
"In" rule always fails
Problem: in:admin,user fails for valid value.
Cause: Case mismatch or whitespace.
Fix: Normalize before validation:
$input['role'] = strtolower(trim($input['role']));
$validator->validate($input, [
'role' => 'in:admin,user',
]);
Error Handling Issues
Errors not showing
Problem: $result->errors() returns empty array.
Cause: Checking before validation or wrong variable.
Fix: Verify validation was run:
$result = $validator->validate($input, $rules);
// Wrong: checking wrong object
if ($validator->errors()) // Validator doesn't have errors()
// Correct: use result
if ($result->fails()) {
$errors = $result->errors();
}
Error messages not translated
Problem: Error shows English despite localization.
Cause: Custom messages not provided or text domain issue.
Fix: Pass custom messages:
$result = $validator->validate($input, $rules, [
'email.required' => __('Email is required.', $context->textDomain()),
'email.email' => __('Please enter a valid email.', $context->textDomain()),
]);
Nullable Issues
Nullable field still validates
Problem: Empty optional field triggers other rules.
Cause: Wrong rule order or missing nullable.
Fix: Put nullable first:
// Bad: Wrong order
'phone' => 'string|max:20|nullable',
// Good: Nullable first
'phone' => 'nullable|string|max:20',