Form Validation: One set of rules for all forms of same model

Hello everyone, I am using the CI form validation library in my controllers but i have the validation rules defined in the models.
For example in my Users controller, in the edit() method i have:

PHP Code:

// Get the rules from the model
$rules = $this->user_model->user_edit_rules;

// Set the rules
$this->form_validation->set_rules($rules);

if ($this->form_validation->run() == TRUE) {
    // Edit user
} 


Then in the same controller the other methods use different validation rules, for example user_login_rules, user_create_rules and so. This results in many sets of rules for the same fields.

The thing is that i want a single set of validation rules that represent the restrinctions of the whole model. For example:

PHP Code:

public $user_rules = array(
    'username' => array(
            'field' => 'username',
            'label' => 'User',
            'rules' => 'trim|required|min_length[4]|max_length[20]|is_unique[users.username]',
    ),
    'email' => array(
            'field' => 'email',
            'label' => 'Email',
            'rules' => 'trim|required|is_unique[users.email]|valid_email',
    ),
    'permissions[]' => array(
            'field' => 'permissions[]',
            'label' => 'Permissions',
            'rules' => 'trim|required',
    ),
    'password' => array(
            'field' => 'password',
            'label' => 'Password',
            'rules' => 'trim|required|min_length[5]|max_length[25]',
    ),
    'password_confirm' => array(
            'field' => 'password_confirm',
            'label' => 'Confirm Password',
            'rules' => 'trim|required|matches[password]',
    )
); 


But when i use this rules, for example, for the login page the validation fails because some data is not submitted in the login form.
So i want the validation library to only take into account the fields that have been submitted.

I think this would be possible since submitting an empty field means it will exist in $_POST[] as an empty string which is different from not submitting it.

Any advice on how to accomplish this? maybe implementing a MY_Form_validation.php but i am not sure.

Thanks so much

use unset function before passing the array to set rule methode.
For example if yo dont want to validate password confirm in login page,


// Get the rules from the model
$rules = $this->user_model->user_edit_rules;

Unset($rules[password]);

// Set the rules
$this->form_validation->set_rules($rules);

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Great thanks!
Your idea made me think i could do it like this:

PHP Code:

$login_rules = elements(array('username', 'password'), $this->user_model->all_rules); 


Thanks again for taking the time to answer!

You might want to consider extending the Form validation class with a MY_Form_validation.php and putting the following method in it:

PHP Code:

/**
 * Generic callback used to call callback methods for form validation.
 * 
 * @param  string  the value to be validated
 * @param  string  a comma separated string that contains the model name, 
 *                 method name and any optional values to send to the method 
 *                 as a single parameter.
 *
 *                 - First value is the external class type (library,model)
 *                 - Second value is the name of the class.
 *                 - Third value is the name of the method.
 *                 - Any additional values are values to be 
 *                   sent in an array to the method. 
 *
 *      EXAMPLE RULE FOR CALLBACK IN MODEL:
 *  external_callbacks[model,model_name,some_method,some_string,another_string]
 *  
 *      EXAMPLE RULE FOR CALLBACK IN LIBRARY:
 *  external_callbacks[library,library_name,some_method,some_string,another_string]
 */
public function external_callbacks( $postdata, $param )
{
    $param_values = explode( ',', $param ); 

    // Load the model or library holding the callback
    $class_type = $param_values[0];
    $class_name = $param_values[1];
    $this->CI->load->$class_type( $class_name );

    // Apply method name to variable for easy usage
    $method = $param_values[2];

    // Check to see if there are any additional values to send as an array
    if( count( $param_values ) > 3 )
    {
        // Remove the first three elements in the param_values array
        $argument = array_slice( $param_values, 3 );
    }

    // Do the actual validation in the external callback
    if( isset( $argument ) )
    {
        $callback_result = $this->CI->$class_name->$method( $postdata, $argument );
    }
    else
    {
        $callback_result = $this->CI->$class_name->$method( $postdata );
    }

    return $callback_result;
}

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 


This allows you to put commonly used form validation rules in a model or library. See the comments.

PS. This is included in Community Auth

Brian's Web Design - Temecula, CA
Community Auth For CodeIgniter 3
Community Auth

Thanks for the suggestion @skunkbad !