'valid_string' Not Working in ORM\Model

[knudpotente]

Issue as reported on the Forum (http://fuelphp.com/forums/topics/view/5217).

Validation using 'valid_string' does not behave as expected when defined inside ORM\Model $_properties. Example: we want to establish validation for a 'surname' field in the model, where we will only accept alpha characters, spaces and dashes. This is defined in the model as:

<?php

class Model_Client extends Orm\Model {

 protected static $_properties = array(
    'id',
    'created_at',
    'updated_at',
    'given_names',
    'surname' => array(
       'type' => 'string',
       'label' => 'Surname',
       'validation' => array(
           'trim',
           'strip_tags',
           'required', 
           'valid_string'=>array('alpha','spaces','dashes')
       ),
    ),
 );

 protected static $_observers = array(
    'Orm\Observer_CreatedAt' => array('before_insert'),
    'Orm\Observer_UpdatedAt' => array('before_save'),
    'Orm\Observer_Validation' => array('before_save'),
 );

}

The way the 'valid_string' validation in the surname field behaves - using different configurations - is like this:

(1) Using 'valid_string' => array('alpha') only: works as expected - allows only alpha characters, fails if anything else is typed.

(2) Using 'valid_string' => array('alpha', 'whatever'): if anything else is added after 'alpha' (such as 'spaces', or 'dashes'), then it ignores whatever has been added, and validation works exactly as in (1) - that is, if I add a space or a dash, even if I specified that this is be allowed by using 'spaces' or 'dashes', then validation fails

(3) Using 'valid_string' => array('whatever','alpha'): if anything is added before 'alpha', then validation always fails, even if the field contains only alpha characters.

[jschreuder]

That's because only the first param is actually used, as described in docs the valid_string takes either a string or an array as input. The array you add here are the parameters, thus each value is a separate param, if you want it to work you have to call it like this:

'valid_string' => array(array('alpha', 'spaces', 'dashes'))

Then the first param passed is the array of options.

[knudpotente]

Thank you for the explanation! This does not seem clear to me from the documentation - perhaps adding an example there using 'valid_string' would help clear things up.

This usage, however, does seem a bit odd. Why have an 'array' encasing everything: if the content of this array is only ever going to be one single item- ie., one string, or one other array - isn't this encasing array redundant? There may be a technical reason why it is needed, but the logical usage - which is what I had understood from the docs - perhaps should be:

1) Either a (list) string: 'valid_string' => 'alpha,spaces,dashes' 2) Or an array: 'valid_string' => array('alpha','spaces','dashes')

If this makes more sense, then perhaps this issue could be changed to a 'feature request'?