Validate URI In Form Fields With Zend Framework Custom Validator
Introduction to Zend Framework
Zend Framework is an open source, object-oriented web application framework implemented in PHP 5 and licensed under the New BSD License. Zend Framework provides many components like Zend_Form, Zend_Controller, Zend_Validate, Zend_Filter to build web secure and robust applications fairly faster.
To know more about Zend Framework visit the following websites:
- http://framework.zend.com/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zend_Framework
Zend_Form:
Zend_Form official reference guide is available at http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.form.html
Zend_Form simplifies form creation and handling in your web application. Taking advantage of Zend_Filter and Zend_Validate you can filter and validate your form fields. At the time of writing this article 19 validation classes are shipped with Zend Framework. I came across a situation where I had to write a custom class to validate URIs. To write the custom URI validator I made use of Zend_Uri which aids in manipulating and validating Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). In particular I used Zend_Uri::check() function to validate the URI in question.
BV_Validate_Uri - Custom Validator To Check Whether A Given URI Is Valid
In order to use BV_Validate_Uri you must have set up your application to use Zend Framework. You must also know how to use Zend_Form to validate the form fields.
Create the directory BV under your Zend Framework library directory. Also create the directory Validate under BV. Create a file by name Uri.php and copy the PHP code to it.
mkdir library/BV mkdir library/BV/Validate vi library/BV/Validate/Uri.php Copy the below PHP code and save the file
<?php
require_once 'Zend/Validate/Abstract.php';
require_once 'Zend/Uri.php';
class BV_Validate_Uri extends Zend_Validate_Abstract
{
const MSG_URI = 'msgUri';
protected $_messageTemplates = array(
self::MSG_URI => "Invalid URI",
);
public function isValid($value)
{
$this->_setValue($value);
//Validate the URI
$valid = Zend_Uri::check($value);
//Return validation result TRUE|FALSE
if ($valid) {
return true;
} else {
$this->_error(self::MSG_URI);
return false;
}
}
}
?>
Now we have created a reusable URI validator. You can use this URI validator in all your forms. Below is an example of the BV_Validate_Uri usage with Zend_Form.
<?php
$website = $form->createElement('text', 'website');
$website->setLabel('Website URL');
$website->addValidator(new BV_Validate_Uri());
?>
That is all you need to do to add the BV_Validate_Uri to your form field. When the form is submitted the element is validated by BV_Validate_Uri. In summary, you just have to add one line to add the custom URI validator.
<?php
$website->addValidator(new BV_Validate_Uri());
?>
I hope this article has helped you to validate URI in your form fields.
Tech Chorus by Sudheera Satyanarayana is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at techchorus.net.
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Nice validator!
Nice validator!
Custom validation messages for Captcha component
Hi,
I've been working with Zend framework a bit and have a little information for those who need custom validation messages for captcha (Zend_Form_Element_Captcha) component. It's a bit frustrating so I paste code there (hopefully everyone who needs it will find it):
$form->captcha = new Zend_Form_Element_Captcha('captcha', array( label => 'Prove that you are human', captcha => "Figlet", captchaOptions => array ( 'captcha' => "Figlet", 'wordLen' => 6, 'timeout' => 300, 'messages' => array ( Zend_Captcha_Word::BAD_CAPTCHA => 'Wrong word or symbol combination entered', Zend_Captcha_Word::MISSING_VALUE => "No word is entered", Zend_Captcha_Word::MISSING_ID => "Field ID is missing or smth like that" )), ));Post new comment