How to validate an array of dates in Laravel

Question

The below validation does not pass for start_date and end_date fields.

ErrorException: strtotime() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given

public function rules()
{
    return [
      'location_id.*' => 'required_without_all:user_id,service_id|integer|gt:0',
      'service_id.*' => 'required_without_all:user_id,location_id|integer|gt:0',
      'user_id.*' => 'required_without_all:location_id,service_id|integer|gt:0',
      'start_date.*' => 'required|date|after_or_equal:now',
      'end_date.*' => 'nullable|date|after_or_equal:start_date',
      'day_name.*' => 'nullable|integer|between:1,7',
      'start_time.*' => 'required|date_format:H:i|before:end_time',
      'end_time.*' => 'required|date_format:H:i|after:start_time',
      'created_by_user_id.*' => 'required|integer|gt:0',
    ];
}

protected function prepareForValidation()
{
  $row = count($this->day_name);

  $this->merge([
      'location_id' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->location_id),
      'service_id' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->service_id),
      'user_id' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->user_id),
      'start_date' => array_fill(0, $row, Carbon::parse($this->start_date)),
      'end_date' => array_fill(0, $row, Carbon::parse($this->end_date)),
      'day_name' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->day_name),
      'start_time' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->start_time),
      'end_time' => array_fill(0, $row, $this->end_time),
      'created_by_user_id' => array_fill(0, 3, $this->created_by_user_id),
  ]);

The start_date is a carbon instance as given below:

dd($this->start_date)); // In the start of public function rules()

array:3 [
  0 => Carbon\Carbon @1587484783^ {#1470
    #constructedObjectId: "000000006789d240000000000f12e56f"
    #localMonthsOverflow: null
    #localYearsOverflow: null
    #localStrictModeEnabled: null
    #localHumanDiffOptions: null
    #localToStringFormat: null
    #localSerializer: null
    #localMacros: null
    #localGenericMacros: null
    #localFormatFunction: null
    #localTranslator: null
    #dumpProperties: array:3 [
      0 => "date"
      1 => "timezone_type"
      2 => "timezone"
    ]
    #dumpLocale: null
    date: 2020-04-21 15:59:43.430962 UTC (+00:00)
    timezone: "UTC"
  }
  1 => Carbon\Carbon @1587484783^ {#1470}
  2 => Carbon\Carbon @1587484783^ {#1470}
]

All the fields belong to the same table. Some were non-arrays and some were array inputs. So converted them all to arrays to do multiple record inserts.

Are you trying to validate the start_date to the end_date at the same index of each of their array? Like this: start_date[3] < end_date[3]? — Robert Kujawa
– Robert Kujawa, Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 16:25
@RobertKujawa I tried the whole thing with start_date by excluding end_date. But the same error — Imran Khan
– Imran Khan, Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 16:34
The error is with the Carbon::parse(). you see, you have given an array to carbon parse, it accept a string instead. — Tharaka Dilshan
– Tharaka Dilshan, Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 16:39

Robert Kujawa · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-22 16:12:51Z

1

The problem that you are having is that you are passing an array of dates to compare to each single 'start_date' or each 'end_date'. The only way you will be able to validate this using Laravel's existing validation rules is if you change how your request is formed.

Instead of passing this to your request:

{
    start_date: ['YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY-MM-DD'],
    end_date: ['YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY-MM-DD']
}

try passing this:

{
    dates: [
        {start_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD', end_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD'},
        {start_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD', end_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD'},
        {start_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD', end_date: 'YYYY-MM-DD'}
    ]
}

With this syntax you can then validate each 'start_date' with it's respective 'end_date' and viceversa:

public function rules()
{
    return [
        'dates.*.start_date' => 'required|date|after_or_equal:now',
        'dates.*.end_date' => 'nullable|date|after_or_equal:start_date'
    ];
}

edited Apr 22, 2020 at 16:12

answered Apr 21, 2020 at 16:55

Robert Kujawa

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1 Comment

Imran Khan Over a year ago

Thank You Robert. I could solve the problem with your hint. The problem that you are hvaing is that you are passing an array of dates to compare to each single 'start_date' or each 'end_date'.

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