Validate overlapping dates in laravel while creating

Question

I want to validate that there is no duplicate row for any overlapping dates in laravel. I have 2 columns in database with DATE datatype, valid_from_date and valid_until_date.

Suppose valid_from_date = 2019-01-01 and valid_until_date = 2019-01-31, I don't want to let user enter any dates between these days.

Invalid Case examples: Should not be accepted

valid_from_date = 2018-12-01 and valid_until_date = 2019-01-02
valid_from_date = 2019-01-04 and valid_until_date = 2019-01-29
valid_from_date = 2019-01-15 and valid_until_date = 2019-02-05

Valid Case Examples: Can be accepted

valid_from_date = 2018-12-02 and valid_until_date = 2018-12-31
valid_from_date = 2019-02-05 and valid_until_date = 2019-02-25

Precisely, any input date that falls between these 2 dates should not be accepted as valid_from_date or valid_until_date.

I tried doing this with Rule::unique in following manner, also tried many other query ways.

Rule::unique('users')->where(function ($query) use ($request) {
                                          return $query->where('user_id', $request->user_id)
                                         ->where(function($q1) use ($request) {
                                          $q1->where(function($q2) use ($request) {
                                          $q2->where('valid_from_date', '<=', $request->valid_from_date)
                                          ->where('valid_until_date', '>=', $request->valid_from_date);
                                                    })
                                          ->orWhere(function($q2) use ($request) {
                                          $q2->where('valid_from_date', '<=', $request->valid_until_date)
                                          ->where('valid_until_date', '>=', $request->valid_until_date);
                                                    });
                                                });
                                    })

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Answer 1

I achieved this using Rule::notIn($array), this $array having all the dates between valid_from_date and valid_until_date.