Identical Validator

Zend\Validator\Identical allows you to validate if a given value is identical with a set token.

Supported options for Zend\Validator\Identical

The following options are supported for Zend\Validator\Identical:

  • strict: Defines if the validation should be done strict. The default value is TRUE.
  • token: Sets the token with which the input will be validated against.
  • literal: If set to TRUE, the validation will skip the lookup for elements in the form context, and validate the token just the way it was provided. The default value is FALSE.

Basic usage

To validate if two values are identical you need to set the origin value as the token. See the following example which validates a string against the given token.

1
2
3
4
$valid = new Zend\Validator\Identical('origin');
if ($valid->isValid($value)) {
    return true;
}

The validation will only then return TRUE when both values are 100% identical. In our example, when $value is ‘origin’.

You can set the wished token also afterwards by using the method setToken() and getToken() to get the actual set token.

Identical objects

Of course Zend\Validator\Identical can not only validate strings, but also any other variable type like Boolean, Integer, Float, Array or even Objects. As already noted Token and Value must be identical.

1
2
3
4
5
6
$valid = new Zend\Validator\Identical(123);
if ($valid->isValid($input)) {
    // input appears to be valid
} else {
    // input is invalid
}

Note

Type comparison

You should be aware that also the type of a variable is used for validation. This means that the string ‘3’ is not identical with the integer 3. When you want such a non strict validation you must set the strict option to false.

Form elements

Zend\Validator\Identical supports also the comparison of form elements. This can be done by using the element’s name as token. See the following example:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
$form->add(array(
    'name' => 'elementOne',
    'type' => 'Password',
));
$form->add(array(
    'name'       => 'elementTwo',
    'type'       => 'Password',
    'validators' => array(
        array(
            'name'    => 'Identical',
            'options' => array(
                'token' => 'elementOne',
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

By using the elements name from the first element as token for the second element, the validator validates if the second element is equal with the first element. In the case your user does not enter two identical values, you will get a validation error.

Validating a Value From a Fieldset

Sometimes you will need to validate an input that lives inside a fieldset, and this can be accomplished, see the following example.

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
use Zend\Form\Element;
use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\InputFilter\Input;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilter;

$userFieldset = new Fieldset('user'); // (1)
$userFieldset->add(array(
    'name' => 'email', // (2)
    'type' => 'Email',
));

// Let's add one fieldset inside the 'user' fieldset,
// so we can see how to manage the token in a different deepness
$deeperFieldset = new Fieldset('deeperFieldset'); // (3)
$deeperFieldset->add(array(
    'name'    => 'deeperFieldsetInput', // (4)
    'type'    => 'Text',
    'options' => array(
        'label' => 'What validator are we testing?',
    ),
));
$userFieldset->add($deeperFieldset);

$signUpForm = new Form('signUp');
$signUpForm->add($userFieldset);
// Add an input that will validate the 'email' input from 'user' fieldset
$signUpForm->add(array(
    'name' => 'confirmEmail', // (5)
    'type' => 'Email',
));
// Add an input that will validate the 'deeperFieldsetInput' from 'deeperFieldset'
// that lives inside the 'user' fieldset
$signUpForm->add(array(
    'name' => 'confirmTestingValidator', // (6)
    'type' => 'Text',
));

$inputFilter = new InputFilter();
// This will ensure the user enter the same email in 'email' (2) and 'confirmEmail' (5)
$inputFilter->add(array(
    'name' => 'confirmEmail', // references (5)
    'validators' => array(
        array(
            'name' => 'Identical',
            'options' => array(
                // 'user' key references 'user' fieldset (1), and 'email' references 'email' element inside
                // 'user' fieldset (2)
                'token' => array('user' => 'email'),
            ),
        ),
    ),
));
// This will ensure the user enter the same string in 'deeperFieldsetInput' (4)
// and 'confirmTestingValidator' (6)
$inputFilter->add(array(
    'name' => 'confirmTestingValidator', // references (6)
    'validators' => array(
        array(
            'name' => 'Identical',
            'options' => array(
                'token' => array(
                    'user' => array( // references 'user' fieldset (1)
                        // 'deeperFieldset' key references 'deeperFieldset' fieldset (3)
                        // 'deeperFieldsetInput' references 'deeperFieldsetInput' element (4)
                        'deeperFieldset' => 'deeperFieldsetInput'
                    )
               ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

$signUpForm->setInputFilter($inputFilter);

Note

Aways make sure that your token array have just one key per level all the way till the leaf, otherwise you can end up with unexpected results.

Strict validation

As mentioned before Zend\Validator\Identical validates tokens strict. You can change this behaviour by using the strict option. The default value for this property is TRUE.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
$valid = new Zend\Validator\Identical(array('token' => 123, 'strict' => FALSE));
$input = '123';
if ($valid->isValid($input)) {
    // input appears to be valid
} else {
    // input is invalid
}

The difference to the previous example is that the validation returns in this case TRUE, even if you compare a integer with string value as long as the content is identical but not the type.

For convenience you can also use setStrict() and getStrict().

Configuration

As all other validators, Zend\Validator\Identical also supports the usage of configuration settings as input parameter. This means that you can configure this validator with a Traversable object.

There is a case which you should be aware of. If you are using an array as token, and it contains a 'token' key, you should wrap it within another 'token' key. See the examples below to undestand this situation.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
// This will not validate array('token' => 123), it will actually validate the integer 123
$valid = new Zend\Validator\Identical(array('token' => 123));
if ($valid->isValid($input)) {
    // input appears to be valid
} else {
    // input is invalid
}

The reason for this special case is that you can configure the token which has to be used by giving the 'token' key.

So, when you are using an array as token, and it contains one element with a 'token' key, then you have to wrap it like shown in the example below.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
// Unlike the previous example, this will validate array('token' => 123)
$valid = new Zend\Validator\Identical(array('token' => array('token' => 123)));
if ($valid->isValid($input)) {
    // input appears to be valid
} else {
    // input is invalid
}

If the array you are willing to validate does not have a 'token' key, you do not need to wrap it.