How to apply InputFilter validators to fieldset elements in ZF3

Question

I had a form that had two fields. An InputFilter with validators was applied to it. It was working fine. Then I moved the fields to a fieldset and added the fieldset to the form. Now the assignment validators to the fields is not present. The validator objects isValid method is not triggered at all. So how to apply the InputFilter validators to fields in a fieldset? Here you are the classes:

Text class Validator

namespace Application\Validator;

use Zend\Validator\StringLength;
use Zend\Validator\ValidatorInterface;

class Text implements ValidatorInterface
{
    protected $stringLength;
    protected $messages = [];

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->stringLengthValidator = new StringLength();
    }

    public function isValid($value, $context = null)
    {       
        if (empty($context['url'])) {
            if (empty($value)) return false;
            $this->stringLengthValidator->setMin(3);
            $this->stringLengthValidator->setMax(5000);

            if ($this->stringLengthValidator->isValid($value)) {
                return true;
            }
            $this->messages = $this->stringLengthValidator->getMessages();

            return false;
        }
        if (!empty($value)) return false;
        return true;
    }

    public function getMessages()
    {
        return $this->messages;
    }
}

Test class InputFilter

namespace Application\Filter;

use Application\Fieldset\Test as Fieldset;
use Application\Validator\Text;
use Application\Validator\Url;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter;

class Test extends InputFilter
{
    public function init()
    {
        $this->add([
            'name' => Fieldset::TEXT,
            'required' => false,
            'allow_empty' => true,
            'continue_if_empty' => true,
            'validators' => [
                ['name' => Text::class],
            ],
        ]);
        $this->add([
            'name' => Fieldset::URL,
            'required' => false,
            'allow_empty' => true,
            'continue_if_empty' => true,
            'validators' => [
                ['name' => Url::class],
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

Test class Fieldset

namespace Application\Fieldset;

use Zend\Form\Fieldset;

class Test extends Fieldset
{
    const TEXT = 'text';
    const URL = 'url';
    public function init()
    {
        $this->add([
            'name' => self::TEXT,
            'type' => 'textarea',
            'attributes' => [
                'id' => 'text',
                'class' => 'form-control',
                'placeholder' => 'Type text here',
                'rows' => '6',
            ],
            'options' => [
                'label' => self::TEXT,

            ],
        ]);
        $this->add([
            'name' => self::URL,
            'type' => 'text',
            'attributes' => [
                'id' => 'url',
                'class' => 'form-control',
                'placeholder' => 'Type url here',
            ],
            'options' => [
                'label' => self::URL,

            ],
        ]);
    }
}

Test class Form

namespace Application\Form;

use Application\Fieldset\Test as TestFieldset;
use Zend\Form\Form;

class Test extends Form
{
    public function init()
    {
        $this->add([
            'name' => 'test',
            'type' => TestFieldset::class,
            'options' => [
                'use_as_base_fieldset' => true,
            ],
        ]);
        $this->add([
            'name' => 'submit',
            'attributes' => [
                'type' => 'submit',
                'value' => 'Send',
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

TestController class

namespace Application\Controller;

use Application\Form\Test as Form;
use Zend\Debug\Debug;
use Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
use Zend\View\Model\ViewModel;

class TestController extends AbstractActionController
{
    private $form;

    public function __construct(Form $form)
    {
        $this->form = $form;
    }

    public function indexAction()
    {
        if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
            $this->form->setData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
            Debug::dump($this->getRequest()->getPost());
            if ($this->form->isValid()) {
                Debug::dump($this->form->getData());
                die();
            }
        }
        return new ViewModel(['form' => $this->form]);
    }
}

TestControllerFactory class

namespace Application\Factory;

use Application\Controller\TestController;
use Application\Form\Test;
use Interop\Container\ContainerInterface;
use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;

class TestControllerFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        $form = $container->get('FormElementManager')->get(Test::class);

        return new TestController($form);
    }
}

Test class

namespace Application\Factory;

use Application\Filter\Test as Filter;
use Application\Entity\Form as Entity;
use Application\Form\Test as Form;
use Interop\Container\ContainerInterface;
use Zend\Hydrator\ClassMethods;
use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;

class Test implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        return (new Form())
            ->setHydrator($container
                ->get('HydratorManager')
                ->get(ClassMethods::class))
            ->setObject(new Entity())
            ->setInputFilter($container->get('InputFilterManager')->get(Filter::class));
    }
}

Test Fieldset

namespace Application\Factory;

use Application\Entity\Fieldset as Entity;
use Application\Fieldset\Test as Fieldset;
use Interop\Container\ContainerInterface;
use Zend\Hydrator\ClassMethods;
use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;

class TestFieldset implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        return (new Fieldset())
            ->setHydrator($container->get('HydratorManager')->get(ClassMethods::class))
            ->setObject(new Entity());
    }
}

UPDATE

I updated the fieldset class accordingly to @Nukeface advise by adding setInputFilter(). But it did not worked. It even had not executed InpuFilter class init method. Perhaps I did in wrong:

<?php

namespace Application\Fieldset;

use Application\Filter\Test as Filter;
use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterAwareTrait;

class Test extends Fieldset
{
    use InputFilterAwareTrait;

    const TEXT = 'text';
    const URL = 'url';

    public function init()
    {
        $this->add([
            'name' => self::TEXT,
            'type' => 'textarea',
            'attributes' => [
                'id' => 'text',
                'class' => 'form-control',
                'placeholder' => 'Type text here',
                'rows' => '6',
            ],
            'options' => [
                'label' => self::TEXT,

            ],
        ]);
        $this->add([
            'name' => self::URL,
            'type' => 'text',
            'attributes' => [
                'id' => 'url',
                'class' => 'form-control',
                'placeholder' => 'Type url here',
            ],
            'options' => [
                'label' => self::URL,

            ],
        ]);
        $this->setInputFilter(new Filter());
    }
}

Answer 1

Tried an answer before and ran out of chars (30k limit), so created a repo instead. The repo contains abstraction of the answer below, which is a working example.

Your question shows you having the right idea, just not yet the implementation. It also contains a few mistakes, such as setting a FQCN for a Fieldset name. Hopefully the below can have you up and running.

As a use case, we'll have a basic Address form. Relationships for Country, Timezones and other things I'll leave out of the scope. For more in depth and nesting of Fieldsets (also with Collections) I'll refer you to my repo.

---

General setup

First create the basic setup. Create the Entity and configuration.

Basic Entity

namespace Demo\Entity;

class Address
{
    protected $id;     // int - primary key - unique - auto increment
    protected $street; // string - max length 255 - not null
    protected $number; // int - max length 11 - not null
    protected $city;   // string - max length 255 - null

    // getters/setters/annotation/et cetera
}

To handle this in a generic and re-usable way, we're going to need:

• AddressForm (general container)
• AddressFormFieldset (form needs to be validated)
• AddressFieldset (contains the entity inputs)
• AddressFieldsetInputFilter (must validate the data entered)
• AddressController (to handle CRUD actions)
• Factory classes for all of the above
• a form partial

Configuration

To tie these together in Zend Framework, these need to be registered in the config. With clear naming, you can already add these. If you're using something like PhpStorm as your IDE, you might want to leave this till last, as the use statements can be generated for you.

As this is an explanation, I'm showing you now. Add this to your module's config:

// use statements here
return [
    'controllers' => [
        'factories' => [
            AddressController::class => AddressControllerFactory::class,
        ],
    ],
    'form_elements' => [ // <-- note: both Form and Fieldset classes count as Form elements
        'factories' => [
            AddressForm::class => AddressFormFactory::class,
            AddressFieldset::class => AddressFieldsetFactory::class,
        ],
    ],
    'input_filters' => [ // <-- note: input filter classes only!
        'factories' => [
            AddressFormInputFilter::class => AddressFormInputFilterFactory::class,
            AddressFieldsetInputFilter::class => AddressFieldsetInputFilterFactory::class,
        ],
    ],
    'view_manager' => [
        'template_map' => [
            'addressFormPartial'   => __DIR__ . '/../view/partials/address-form.phtml',
    ],
];

Fieldset

First we create the Fieldset (and Factory) class. This is because this contains the actual object we're going to handle.

AddressFieldset

// other use statements for Elements
use Zend\Form\Fieldset;

class AddressFieldset extends Fieldset
{
    public function init()
    {
        parent::init(); // called due to inheritance

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'id',
            'type' => Hidden::class,
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'street',
            'required' => true,
            'type' => Text::class,
            'options' => [
                'label' => 'Name',
            ],
            'attributes' => [
                'minlength' => 1,
                'maxlength' => 255,
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'number',
            'required' => true,
            'type' => Number::class,
            'options' => [
                'label' => 'Number',
            ],
            'attributes' => [
                'step' => 1,
                'min' => 0,
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'city',
            'required' => false,
            'type' => Text::class,
            'options' => [
                'label' => 'Name',
            ],
            'attributes' => [
                'minlength' => 1,
                'maxlength' => 255,
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

AddressFieldsetFactory

// other use statements
use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;

class AddressFieldsetFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        $this->setEntityManager($container->get(EntityManager::class));

        /** @var AddressFieldset $fieldset */
        $fieldset = new AddressFieldset($this->getEntityManager(), 'address');
        $fieldset->setHydrator(
            new DoctrineObject($this->getEntityManager())
        );
        $fieldset->setObject(new Address());

        return $fieldset;
    }
}

InputFilter

Above we created the Fieldset. That allows for the generation of the Fieldset for in a Form. At the same time, Zend Framework also has defaults already set per type of input (e.g. 'type' => Text::class). However, if we want to validate it to our own, more strict, standards, we need to override the defaults. For this we need an InputFilter class.

AddressFieldsetInputFilter

// other use statements
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter;

class AddressFieldsetInputFilter extends InputFilter
{
    public function init()
    {
        parent::init(); // called due to inheritance

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'id',
            'required' => true,
            'filters' => [
                ['name' => ToInt::class],
            ],
            'validators' => [
                ['name' => IsInt::class],
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'street',
            'required' => true,
            'filters' => [
                ['name' => StringTrim::class], // remove whitespace before & after string
                ['name' => StripTags::class],  // remove unwanted tags 
                [                              // if received is empty string, set to 'null'
                    'name' => ToNull::class,
                    'options' => [
                        'type' => ToNull::TYPE_STRING, // also supports other types
                    ],
                ],
            ],
            'validators' => [
                [
                    'name' => StringLength::class, // set min/max string length
                    'options' => [
                        'min' => 1,
                        'max' => 255,
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'number',
            'required' => true,
            'filters' => [
                ['name' => ToInt::class],    // received from HTML form always string, have it cast to integer
                [
                    'name' => ToNull::class, // if received is empty string, set to 'null'
                    'options' => [
                        'type' => ToNull::TYPE_INTEGER,
                    ],
                ],
            ],
            'validators' => [
                ['name' => IsInt::class], // check if actually integer
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'city',
            'required' => false, // <-- not required
            'filters' => [
                ['name' => StringTrim::class], // remove whitespace before & after string
                ['name' => StripTags::class],  // remove unwanted tags 
                [                              // if received is empty string, set to 'null'
                    'name' => ToNull::class,
                    'options' => [
                        'type' => ToNull::TYPE_STRING, // also supports other types
                    ],
                ],
            ],
            'validators' => [
                [
                    'name' => StringLength::class, // set min/max string length
                    'options' => [
                        'min' => 1,
                        'max' => 255,
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

AddressFieldsetInputFilterFactory

// other use statements
use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;

class AddressFieldsetInputFilterFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
   public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        // Nothing else required in this example. So it's as plain as can be.
        return new AddressFieldsetInputFilter();
    }
}

Form & Validation

So. Above we created the Fieldset, it's InputFilter and 2 required Factory classes. This already allows us to do a great deal, such as:

• use the InputFilter in stand-alone setting to dynamically validate an object
• re-use Fieldset + InputFilter combination in other Fieldset and InputFilter classes for nesting

Form

use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterAwareInterface;
// other use statements

class AddressForm extends Form implements InputFilterAwareInterface
{
    public function init()
    {
        //Call parent initializer. Check in parent what it does.
        parent::init();

        $this->add([
            'type'    => Csrf::class,
            'name'    => 'csrf',
            'options' => [
                'csrf_options' => [
                    'timeout' => 86400, // day
                ],
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name' => 'address',
            'type' => AddressFieldset::class,
            'options' => [
                'use_as_base_fieldset' => true,
            ],
        ]);

        $this->add([
            'name'       => 'submit',
            'type'       => Submit::class,
            'attributes' => [
                'value' => 'Save',
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

Form Factory

use Zend\ServiceManager\Factory\FactoryInterface;
// other use statements

class AddressFormFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        /** @var AbstractForm $form */
        $form = new AddressForm('address', $this->options);
        $form->setInputFilter(
            $container->get('InputFilterManager')->get(ContactFormInputFilter::class);
        );

        return $form;
    }
}

Making it all come together

I'll show just the AddressController#addAction

AddressController

use Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
// other use statements

class AddressController extends AbstractActionController
{
    protected $addressForm;   // + getter/setter
    protected $entityManager; // + getter/setter

    public function __construct(
        EntityManager $entityManager, 
        AddressForm $form
    ) {
        $this->entityManager = $entityManager;
        $this->addressForm = $form;
    }

    // Add your own: index, view, edit and delete functions

    public function addAction () {
        /** @var AddressForm $form */
        $form = $this->getAddressForm();

        /** @var Request $request */
        $request = $this->getRequest();
        if ($request->isPost()) {
            $form->setData($request->getPost());

            if ($form->isValid()) {
                $entity = $form->getObject();
                $this->getEntityManager()->persist($entity);

                try {
                    $this->getEntityManager()->flush();
                } catch (\Exception $e) {
                    $this->flashMessenger()->addErrorMessage($message);

                    return [
                        'form' => $form,
                        'validationMessages' => $form->getMessages() ?: '',
                    ];
                }

                $this->flashMessenger()->addSuccessMessage(
                    'Successfully created object.'
                );

                return $this->redirect()->route($route, ['param' => 'routeParamValue']);
            }

            $this->flashMessenger()->addWarningMessage(
                'Your form contains errors. Please correct them and try again.'
            );
        }

        return [
            'form' => $form,
            'validationMessages' => $form->getMessages() ?: '',
        ];
    }
}

AddressControllerFactory

class AddressControllerFactory implements FactoryInterface
{

    public function __invoke(ContainerInterface $container, $requestedName, array $options = null)
    {
        /** @var AddressController $controller */
        $controller = new AddressController(
            $container->get(EntityManager::class), 
            $container->get('FormElementManager')->get(AddressForm::class);
        );

        return $controller;
    }
}

Display in addressFormPartial

$this->headTitle('Add address');

$form->prepare();
echo $this->form()->openTag($form);
echo $this->formRow($form->get('csrf'));

echo $this->formRow($form->get('address')->get('id'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('address')->get('street'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('address')->get('number'));
echo $this->formRow($form->get('address')->get('city'));

echo $this->formRow($form->get('submit'));
echo $this->form()->closeTag($form);

To use this partial, say in a add.phtml view, use:

<?= $this->partial('addressFormPartial', ['form' => $form]) ?>

This bit of code will work with the demonstrated addAction in the Controller code above.

---

Hope you found this helpful ;-) If you have any questions left, don't hesitate to ask.

Answer 2

Just use the InputFilterProviderInterface class to your fieldset. This implements the getInputFilterSpecification method to your fieldset, which executes the input filters mentioned in this method.

class MyFieldset extends Fieldset implements InputFilterProviderInterface
{
    public function init()
    {
        $this->add([
            'name' => 'textfield',
            'type' => Text::class,
            'attributes' => [
                ...
            ],
            'options' => [
                ...
            ]
        ]);
    }

    public function getInputFilterSpecification()
    {
        return [
            'textfield' => [
                'required' => true,
                'filters' => [
                    ...
                ],
                'validators' => [
                    [
                        'name' => YourTextValidator::class,
                        'options' => [
                            ...
                        ],
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}

AS long as you add this fieldset in your form the bound filters and validators will be executed on the isValid method call of your form.