Laravel update model with unique validation rule for attribute

Append the id of the instance currently being updated to the validator.

Pass the id of your instance to ignore the unique validator. In the validator, use a parameter to detect if you are updating or creating the resource.

If updating, force the unique rule to ignore a given id:

//rules
'email' => 'unique:users,email_address,' . $userId,

If creating, proceed as usual:

//rules
'email' => 'unique:users,email_address',

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Another elegant way...

In your model, create a static function:

public static function rules ($id=0, $merge=[]) {
    return array_merge(
        [
            'username'  => 'required|min:3|max:12|unique:users,username' . ($id ? ",$id" : ''),
            'email'     => 'required|email|unique:member'. ($id ? ",id,$id" : ''),
            'firstname' => 'required|min:2',
            'lastname'  => 'required|min:2',
            ...
        ], 
        $merge);
}

Validation on create:

$validator = Validator::make($input, User::rules());

Validation on update:

$validator = Validator::make($input, User::rules($id));

Validation on update, with some additional rules:

$extend_rules = [
    'password'       => 'required|min:6|same:password_again',
    'password_again' => 'required'
];
$validator = Validator::make($input, User::rules($id, $extend_rules));

Nice.

---

Working within my question:

public function update($id, $data) {
    $user = $this->findById($id);
    $user->fill($data);
    $this->validate($user->toArray(), $id);
    $user->save();
    return $user;
}


public function validate($data, $id=null) {
    $rules = User::$rules;
    if ($id !== null) {
        $rules['username'] .= ",$id";
        $rules['email'] .= ",$id";
    }
    $validation = Validator::make($data, $rules);
    if ($validation->fails()) {
        throw new ValidationException($validation);
    }
    return true;
}

is what I did, based on the accepted answer above.

EDIT: With Form Requests, everything is made simpler:

<?php namespace App\Http\Requests;

class UpdateUserRequest extends Request
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function authorize()
    {
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'name' => 'required|unique:users,username,'.$this->id,
            'email' => 'required|unique:users,email,'.$this->id,
        ];
    }
}

You just need to pass the UpdateUserRequest to your update method, and be sure to POST the model id.

---

Unique Validation With Different Column ID In Laravel

'UserEmail'=>"required|email|unique:users,UserEmail,$userID,UserID"

---

or what you could do in your Form Request is (for Laravel 5.3+)

public function rules()
{
    return [ 
        'email' => 'required|email|unique:users,email,'. $this->user
         //here user is users/{user} from resource's route url
    ];
}

i've done it in Laravel 5.6 and it worked.

---

Laravel 5 compatible and generic way:

I just had the same problem and solved it in a generic way. If you create an item it uses the default rules, if you update an item it will check your rules for :unique and insert an exclude automatically (if needed).

Create a BaseModel class and let all your models inherit from it:

<?php namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class BaseModel extends Model {

    /**
     * The validation rules for this model
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected static $rules = [];

    /**
     * Return model validation rules
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public static function getRules() {
        return static::$rules;
    }

    /**
     * Return model validation rules for an update
     * Add exception to :unique validations where necessary
     * That means: enforce unique if a unique field changed.
     * But relax unique if a unique field did not change
     *
     * @return array;
     */
    public function getUpdateRules() {
        $updateRules = [];
        foreach(self::getRules() as $field => $rule) {
            $newRule = [];
            // Split rule up into parts
            $ruleParts = explode('|',$rule);
            // Check each part for unique
            foreach($ruleParts as $part) {
                if(strpos($part,'unique:') === 0) {
                    // Check if field was unchanged
                    if ( ! $this->isDirty($field)) {
                        // Field did not change, make exception for this model
                        $part = $part . ',' . $field . ',' . $this->getAttribute($field) . ',' . $field;
                    }
                }
                // All other go directly back to the newRule Array
                $newRule[] = $part;
            }
            // Add newRule to updateRules
            $updateRules[$field] = join('|', $newRule);

        }
        return $updateRules;
    }
}    

You now define your rules in your model like you are used to:

protected static $rules = [
    'name' => 'required|alpha|unique:roles',
    'displayName' => 'required|alpha_dash',
    'permissions' => 'array',
];

And validate them in your Controller. If the model does not validate, it will automatically redirect back to the form with the corresponding validation errors. If no validation errors occurred it will continue to execute the code after it.

public function postCreate(Request $request)
{
    // Validate
    $this->validate($request, Role::getRules());
    // Validation successful -> create role
    Role::create($request->all());
    return redirect()->route('admin.role.index');
}

public function postEdit(Request $request, Role $role)
{
    // Validate
    $this->validate($request, $role->getUpdateRules());
    // Validation successful -> update role
    $role->update($request->input());
    return redirect()->route('admin.role.index');
}

That's it! :) Note that on creation we call Role::getRules() and on edit we call $role->getUpdateRules().

---

I have BaseModel class, so I needed something more generic.

//app/BaseModel.php
public function rules()
{
    return $rules = [];
}
public function isValid($id = '')
{

    $validation = Validator::make($this->attributes, $this->rules($id));

    if($validation->passes()) return true;
    $this->errors = $validation->messages();
    return false;
}

In user class let's suppose I need only email and name to be validated:

//app/User.php
//User extends BaseModel
public function rules($id = '')
{
    $rules = [
                'name' => 'required|min:3',
                'email' => 'required|email|unique:users,email',
                'password' => 'required|alpha_num|between:6,12',
                'password_confirmation' => 'same:password|required|alpha_num|between:6,12',
            ];
    if(!empty($id))
    {
        $rules['email'].= ",$id";
        unset($rules['password']);
        unset($rules['password_confirmation']);
    }

    return $rules;
}

I tested this with phpunit and works fine.

//tests/models/UserTest.php 
public function testUpdateExistingUser()
{
    $user = User::find(1);
    $result = $user->id;
    $this->assertEquals(true, $result);
    $user->name = 'test update';
    $user->email = 'ddd@test.si';
    $user->save();

    $this->assertTrue($user->isValid($user->id), 'Expected to pass');

}

I hope will help someone, even if for getting a better idea. Thanks for sharing yours as well. (tested on Laravel 5.0)

---

A simple example for roles update

// model/User.php
class User extends Eloquent
{

    public static function rolesUpdate($id)
    {
        return array(
            'username'              => 'required|alpha_dash|unique:users,username,' . $id,
            'email'                 => 'required|email|unique:users,email,'. $id,
            'password'              => 'between:4,11',
        );
    }
}       

.

// controllers/UsersControllers.php
class UsersController extends Controller
{

    public function update($id)
    {
        $user = User::find($id);
        $validation = Validator::make($input, User::rolesUpdate($user->id));

        if ($validation->passes())
        {
            $user->update($input);

            return Redirect::route('admin.user.show', $id);
        }

        return Redirect::route('admin.user.edit', $id)->withInput()->withErrors($validation);
    }

}

---

'email' => [
    'required',
    Rule::exists('staff')->where(function ($query) {
        $query->where('account_id', 1);
    }),
],

'email' => [
    'required',
    Rule::unique('users')->ignore($user->id)->where(function ($query) {
        $query->where('account_id', 1);
    })
],

---

If you have another column which is being used as foreign key or index then you have to specify that as well in the rule like this.

'phone' => [
                "required",
                "phone",
                Rule::unique('shops')->ignore($shopId, 'id')->where(function ($query) {
                    $query->where('user_id', Auth::id());
                }),
            ],

---

I am calling different validation classes for Store and Update. In my case I don't want to update every fields, so I have baseRules for common fields for Create and Edit. Add extra validation classes for each. I hope my example is helpful. I am using Laravel 4.

Model:

public static $baseRules = array(
    'first_name' => 'required',
    'last_name'  => 'required',
    'description' => 'required',
    'description2' => 'required',
    'phone'  => 'required | numeric',
    'video_link'  => 'required | url',
    'video_title'  => 'required | max:87',
    'video_description'  => 'required',
    'sex' => 'in:M,F,B',
    'title'  => 'required'
);

public static function validate($data)
{
    $createRule = static::$baseRules;
    $createRule['email'] = 'required | email | unique:musicians';
    $createRule['band'] = 'required | unique:musicians';
    $createRule['style'] = 'required';
    $createRule['instrument'] = 'required';
    $createRule['myFile'] = 'required | image';

    return Validator::make($data, $createRule);
}

public static function validateUpdate($data, $id)
{
    $updateRule = static::$baseRules;
    $updateRule['email'] = 'required | email | unique:musicians,email,' . $id;
    $updateRule['band'] = 'required | unique:musicians,band,' . $id;
    return Validator::make($data, $updateRule);
}

Controller: Store method:

public function store()
{
    $myInput = Input::all();
    $validation = Musician::validate($myInput);
    if($validation->fails())
    {
        $key = "errorMusician";
        return Redirect::to('musician/create')
        ->withErrors($validation, 'musicain')
        ->withInput();
    }
}

Update method:

public function update($id) 
{
    $myInput = Input::all();
    $validation = Musician::validateUpdate($myInput, $id);
    if($validation->fails())
    {
        $key = "error";
        $message = $validation->messages();
        return Redirect::to('musician/' . $id)
        ->withErrors($validation, 'musicain')
        ->withInput();
    }
}

---

public static function custom_validation()
{
    $rules = array('title' => 'required ','description'  => 'required','status' => 'required',);
    $messages = array('title.required' => 'The Title must be required','status.required' => 'The Status must be required','description.required' => 'The Description must be required',);
    $validation = Validator::make(Input::all(), $rules, $messages);
    return $validation;
}

---

I had the same problem. What I've done: add in my view hidden field with id of a model and in validator check the unique, only if I've get some id from view.

$this->validate(
        $request,
        [
            'index'       => implode('|', ['required', $request->input('id') ? '' : 'unique:members']),
            'name'        => 'required',
            'surname'     => 'required',
        ]
);

---

You can trying code bellow

return [
    'email' => 'required|email|max:255|unique:users,email,' .$this->get('id'),
    'username' => 'required|alpha_dash|max:50|unique:users,username,'.$this->get('id'),
    'password' => 'required|min:6',
    'confirm-password' => 'required|same:password',
];

---

Laravel 5.8 simple and easy

you can do this all in a form request with quite nicely. . .

first make a field by which you can pass the id (invisible) in the normal edit form. i.e.,

 <div class="form-group d-none">
      <input class="form-control" name="id" type="text" value="{{ $example->id }}" >
 </div>

... Then be sure to add the Rule class to your form request like so:

use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;

... Add the Unique rule ignoring the current id like so:

public function rules()
{
    return [
          'example_field_1'  => ['required', Rule::unique('example_table')->ignore($this->id)],
          'example_field_2'  => 'required',

    ];

... Finally type hint the form request in the update method the same as you would the store method, like so:

 public function update(ExampleValidation $request, Examle $example)
{
    $example->example_field_1 = $request->example_field_1;
    ...
    $example->save();

    $message = "The aircraft was successully updated";


    return  back()->with('status', $message);


}

This way you won't repeat code unnecessarily :-)

---

public function rules()
{
    if ($this->method() == 'PUT') {
        $post_id = $this->segment(3);
        $rules = [
            'post_title' => 'required|unique:posts,post_title,' . $post_id
        ];
    } else {
        $rules = [
            'post_title' => 'required|unique:posts,post_title'
        ];
    }
    return $rules;
}

---

For a custom FormRequest and Laravel 5.7+ you can get the id of your updated model like this:

public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'name' => 'required|min:5|max:255|unique:schools,name,'.\Request::instance()->id
        ];
    }

---

For anyone using a Form request

In my case i tried all of the following none of them worked:

$this->id, $this->user->id, $this->user.

It was because i could not access the model $id nor the $id directly.

So i got the $id from a query using the same unique field i am trying to validate:

    /**
 * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function rules()
{
    $id = YourModel::where('unique_field',$this->request->get('unique_field'))->value('id');
    return [
        'unique_field' => ['rule1','rule2',Rule::unique('yourTable')->ignore($id)],
    ];
}

---

It will work 100% I have both case implement like One case is same form field in database table products and other is products_name is form field and in table, it's name is name, how we can validate and ignore that id while updating. I have encrypted that so i'm decrypted id, if you are encrypt then you will decrypt otherwise pass it as it's coming from the form.

 $request->validate([
                'product_code' => 'required|unique:products,product_code,'.decrypt($request->hiddenProductId),
                'products_name' => 'required|unique:products,name,'.decrypt($request->hiddenProductId),
                
            ]);

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