Laravel validation attributes "nice names"

Question

I'm trying to use the validation attributes in "language > {language} > validation.php", to replace the :attribute name (input name) for a proper to read name (example: first_name > First name) . It seems very simple to use, but the validator doesn't show the "nice names".

I have this:

'attributes' => array(
    'first_name' => 'voornaam'
  , 'first name' => 'voornaam'
  , 'firstname'  => 'voornaam'
);

For showing the errors:

@if($errors->has())
  <ul>
  @foreach ($errors->all() as $error)
    <li class="help-inline errorColor">{{ $error }}</li>
  @endforeach
  </ul>
@endif

And the validation in the controller:

$validation = Validator::make($input, $rules, $messages);

The $messages array:

$messages = array(
    'required' => ':attribute is verplicht.'
  , 'email'    => ':attribute is geen geldig e-mail adres.'
  , 'min'      => ':attribute moet minimaal :min karakters bevatten.'
  , 'numeric'  => ':attribute mag alleen cijfers bevatten.'
  , 'url'      => ':attribute moet een valide url zijn.'
  , 'unique'   => ':attribute moet uniek zijn.'
  , 'max'      => ':attribute mag maximaal :max zijn.'
  , 'mimes'    => ':attribute moet een :mimes bestand zijn.'
  , 'numeric'  => ':attribute is geen geldig getal.'
  , 'size'     => ':attribute is te groot of bevat te veel karakters.'
);

Can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong. I want the :attribute name to be replaced by the "nice name" in the attributes array (language).

Thanks!

EDIT:

I noticed that the problem is I never set a default language for my Laravel projects. When I set the language to 'NL' the code above works. But, when I set my language, the language will appear in the url. And I prefer it doesn't.

So my next question: Is it possible to remove the language from the url, or set the default language so it just doesn't appear there?

Answer 1

Yeahh, the "nice name" attributes as you called it was a real "issue" a few month ago. Hopefully this feature is now implemented and is very simply to use.

For simplicity i will split the two options to tackle this problem:

1. Global Probably the more widespread. This approach is very well explained here but basically you need to edit the application/language/XX/validation.php validation file where XX is the language you will use for the validation.

   At the bottom you will see an attribute array; that will be your "nice name" attributes array. Following your example the final result will be something like this.

   'attributes' => array('first_name' => 'First Name')
   

2. Locally This is what Taylor Otwell was talking about in the issue when he says:

   You may call setAttributeNames on a Validator instance now.

   That's perfectly valid and if you check the source code you will see

   public function setAttributeNames(array $attributes)
   {
       $this->customAttributes = $attributes;
   
       return $this;
   }
   

   So, to use this way see the following straightforward example:

   $niceNames = array(
       'first_name' => 'First Name'
   );
   
   $validator = Validator::make(Input::all(), $rules);
   $validator->setAttributeNames($niceNames); 
   

Resources

There is a really awesome repo on Github that have a lot of languages packages ready to go. Definitely you should check it out.

Hope this helps.