Override URL validation rule to tolerate whitespaces at ends of URL

Question

I would like to override the standard URL validation rule to make it more tolerant of a whitespace character before or after the URL. Basically use the trim() function on the url before passing it to the standard URL validation handler.

I know I need to override that rule but I'm not exactly where and how I need to do it.

(Plus, the CakePHP API and book documentation are currently offline. Upgrades, I know...)

Answer 1

Why would you wanna do that? Simply make sure all posted data is always trimmed. Thats cleaner and more secure, anyway.

I have a component doing that in beforeFilter:

/** DATA PREPARATION **/
if (!empty($controller->data) && !Configure::read('DataPreparation.notrim')) {
    $controller->data = $this->trimDeep($controller->data);
}

The trimDeep method:

/**
 * @static
 */
function trimDeep($value) {
    $value = is_array($value) ? array_map(array(&$this, 'trimDeep'), $value) : trim($value);
    return $value;
}