Laravel 4.2 required_if validation with a checkbox array

Question

I can't figure out how to get the required_if validation rule to work. It doesn't seem to run but probably because I am not using it correctly. All the other rules run but this rule doesn't seem to work. Can somebody tell me what I am doing wrong?

Here is the HTML (with Blade)

     <div class="col-lg-6 col-md-6 col-sm-6 col-xs-6">
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Nonprofit Standard (Bulk)', null, ['data-id' => 'non-profit-standard-bulk']) }} Nonprofit Standard (Bulk)* <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Presorted Standard (Bulk)', null, ['data-id' => 'presorted-standard-bulk']) }} Presorted Standard (Bulk)* <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Presorted First Class (500 pieces or more)', null, ['data-id' => 'presorted-first-class']) }} Presorted First Class (500 pieces or more) <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'First Class', null, ['data-id' => 'first-class']) }} First Class <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Campus', null, ['data-id' => 'campus']) }} Campus <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Other',  null, ['data-id' => 'class_of_mail_other']) }} Other <br />
    {{ Form::checkbox('class_of_mail[]', 'Customer Provided List', null, ['data-id' => 'class_of_mail_customer_provided_list']) }} I would like to provide my own campus list <br />
    </div>

    <div id="mailing_class_other_div" class="form-group row hide">
        {{ Form::label('mailing_class_other', 'Other Class of Mail', ['class' => 'control-label col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-xs-12']) }}
        <div class="col-lg-5 col-md-5 col-sm-5 col-xs-5">
        {{ Form::text('mailing_class_other', null, ['class' => 'form-control input-sm']) }}
        </div>
    </div> 

Here is the $rules array in my controller. There is no model for this form.

    $rules = [
        'department' => 'required|min:2|max:64',
        'purchase_requisition' => 'required|min:2|max:64',
        'contact_name' => 'required|min:2|max:64',
        'contact_phone' => 'required|min:2|max:32',
        'alt_contact_name' => 'required_with:alt_contact_phone',
        'alt_contact_phone' => 'required_with:alt_contact_name',
        'mailing_subject' => 'required|min:2|max:64',
        'mailing_piece_count' => 'required|min:1|max:11',
        'class_of_mail' => 'required',
        ## Here is the required_if validation rule ##
        'mailing_class_other' => 'required_if:class_of_mail,Other',
    ];

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

    if ($validator->fails())
    {
        $messages = $validator->messages();
        return Redirect::to('print-to-mail')->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
    }

Answer 1

It looks like all of your fields are being sent across in the the 'class_of_mail' array, so the $POST array will look something like:

array(
    'class_of_mail' => array('Other'),
    'mailing_class_other' => '...'
)

Your validation for the mailing_class_other only kicks in if 'class_of_mail' == 'Other', which it doesn't, 'class_of_mail' actual equals array('Other').

I don't think Laravel has a way of handling this rule with array values, so I think your best bet is to conditionally add the rule like in this section of the documention: http://laravel.com/docs/4.2/validation#conditionally-adding-rules

$validator->sometimes('mailing_class_other', 'required', function($input)
{
    return in_array($input->class_of_mail, 'Other');
});

This will make the 'mailing_class_other' field required if the 'class_of_mail' array contains a value of 'Other'.