guard

Swift 2 inspired guard for PHP to make simple validation more readable.

Will add more methods as and when I need extended functionality, or if requested - pull requests welcome as well!

installation

composer require djb/guard

suggested usage

Common validation required: email address, string, int, greaterthan, less than etc should be handled by the package.

After that I suggest extending the class to incorporate your own readable guard methods:

class MyFlyingAppGuard extends \DJB\Guard\Guard {
  
  /**
   * This var allows you to describe your exceptions.
   * Should the raises() function be used, the exception raised will automatically contain the message associated with the relevant validation issue.
   */
  protected $exceptionMessages = [
   'can fly' => 'The provided object cannot fly!'
  ];

  private function canFly() {
    if ( ! $this->value->canFly()) $this->setIssue('can fly');
  }
}

In use:

guard($plane)->canFly()->otherwise(function($error) {
  // $error holds the error description from which validation failed.. but as we are only checking one thing we don't need it!
  throw new \Exception('The provided plane cannot fly!');
});

guard($plane)->canFly()->raises();
// Results in Excepton with message: 'The provided object cannot fly!'

Note that to use the guard() function with your new class, you will need to modify the helpers.php file in the package to instantiate your new class instead of the package base class.

syntax

The syntax is inspired by Swift 2's guard feature, to guard a simple variable with an exception you could use the otherwise method:

function createBag($studs) {
  guard($studs)->greaterThan(5)->otherwise(function($error) {
  	  // $error will be 'equal or greater than'
	  throw new \Exception('There are not enough studs to make your gothic bag!');
  });
  return new Bag($studs);
}

or you can get a boolean pass or fail using passes:

if (! guard($var)->isString()->equal('hello')->passes()) {
  return 'Error!';
}

or you can have guard raise an Exception for you with raises:

$min  = '2015-10-25 00:00:00';
$max  = '2015-10-26 00:00:00';
$date = '2015-10-24 00:00:00';

// The below will raise an Exception as $date does not fall between $min and $max
guard($date)->between($min, $max)->raises();
// Results in Excepton with message: 'The variable provided does not fall between the required boundaries.'

All validation methods handled by guard have a built in validation error description like the one above.

You can override this by subclassing \DJB\Guard\Guard, as in the example in suggested usage, and providing the $exceptionMessages property with keys matching the error code you want to override. i.e:

protected $exceptionMessages = ['is between' => 'Make it between 12 and 24, please'];

would override the between($min, $max) validation method's error message.

validation methods

You can check if the variable:

• exists - exists (if the var has length, or is a bool or array)
• isTrue - evaluates to bool true
• isFalse - evaluates to bool false
• isDate - is in a valid date format
• isClass($className) - is an instance of class $className
• isArray - is an array
• isInteger - is an integer
• isString - is a string
• isAlpha - contains only alphabetic characters
• isNumeric - contains only numeric characters
• isEmailAddress - is in email address format
• isURL - is a URL
• isActiveURL - is an URL which can be reached (i.e. website is live)
• isJSON - is a valid JSON string
• isIP - is IP address format
• length($length) - is the length specified
• in(Array $acceptable) - is one of the accepted values
• notIn(Array $excluded) - is not one of the excluded values
• after($date) - is after the provided date (can be a date format string, or an instance of DateTime)
• before($date) - is before the provided date (can be a date format string, or an instance of DateTime)
• between($min, $max) - is between the $min and $max values (can be a date format string, instance of DateTime or numbers)
• equal($value) - is equal to the provided value (number, string)
• lessThan($value) - is less than the provided value (number)
• greaterThan($value) - is greater than the provided value (number)
• equalOrLessThan($value) - is equal or less than the provided value (number)
• equalOrGreaterThan($value) - is equal or greater than the provided value (number)