Laravel validation for nested array request where if one of the integer is zero, the other should be more than zero

Question

I need to validate a laravel request like in this accepted answer in this stack overflow question. However my request is a nested array. What my current code based on the answer:

    $rules = [
        'nested_array.*.variable_a' => [
            'integer',
            'between:0,1',
            function ($attribute, $value, $fail) use ($data) {
                if (!$value && !$request['variable_b']) {
                    $fail($attribute . ' is invalid.'); //you can customize the message here
                }
            }
        ],
        'nested_array.*.variable_b' => 'integer|between:0,1',
        'nested_array.*.order' => ['required', 'integer'],
    ];

I am unable to use !$request['variable_b'] nor !$request['nested_array.*.variable_b'] returning Undefined array key. Will need to change the between:0,1 rule later but the main concern is to validate nested array.

If you have a different way for my question, that would help too.

Answer 1

You can simply back the logic a bit

$rules = [
        'nested_array.*.variable_a' =>  'integer|between:0,1',
        'nested_array.*.variable_b' => 'integer|between:0,1',
        'nested_array.*.order' => ['required', 'integer'],
        'nested_array.*' => [
            function ($attribute, $value, $fail) use ($data) {
                if (!$value['variable_a'] && !$value['variable_b']) {
                    $fail($attribute . ' is invalid.'); //you can customize the message here
                }
            }
        ],
    ];

You can also add the existence of the variable in the condition too

$rules = [
        'nested_array.*.variable_a' =>  'integer|between:0,1',
        'nested_array.*.variable_b' => 'integer|between:0,1',
        'nested_array.*.order' => ['required', 'integer'],
        'nested_array.*' => [
            function ($attribute, $value, $fail) use ($data) {
                if ((!isset($value['variable_a']) || !$value['variable_a']) && (!isset($value['variable_b']) || !$value['variable_b'])) {
                    $fail($attribute . ' is invalid.'); //you can customize the message here
                }
            }
        ],
    ];