How would you use Laravel Data to validate requests for Laravel Settings (Spatie packages)?

Certainly! Here’s a recommended approach to validating Spatie Laravel Settings using spatie/laravel-data in your API requests, including custom validation messages and TypeScript support.

1. Create a Data Class for Your Settings

Yes, your approach of creating a ColorSettingsData class is correct and aligns with best practices. This class will handle validation and transformation for your settings data.

namespace App\Data;

use App\Enums\Color;
use App\Enums\ColorShade;
use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Attributes\MergeValidationRules;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Data;

#[MergeValidationRules]
final class ColorSettingsData extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        public bool $enabled,
        public Color $name,
        /** @var ColorShade[] $shades */
        public array $shades,
    ) {}

    public static function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'enabled' => ['required', 'boolean'],
            'name' => ['required', Rule::enum(Color::class)],
            'shades' => ['array'],
            'shades.*' => ['distinct', Rule::enum(ColorShade::class)],
        ];
    }

    public static function messages(): array
    {
        return [
            'name.enum' => 'The selected color is invalid.',
            'shades.*.enum' => 'Invalid color shade selected.',
            'shades.*.distinct' => 'Duplicate color shades are not allowed.',
        ];
    }
}

2. Use the Data Class in Your Request

You can use the data class in your controller or form request. Here’s how you might use it in a controller:

use App\Data\ColorSettingsData;
use App\Settings\General\ColorSettings;

public function updateColorSettings(Request $request)
{
    // Validate and transform the request data
    $data = ColorSettingsData::from($request);

    // Save to settings
    app(ColorSettings::class)->fill([
        'enabled' => $data->enabled,
        'name' => $data->name,
        'shades' => $data->shades,
    ])->save();

    return response()->json(['message' => 'Settings updated!']);
}

Or, if you want to use a custom Form Request:

use Spatie\LaravelData\WithData;

class UpdateColorSettingsRequest extends FormRequest
{
    use WithData;

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return ColorSettingsData::rules();
    }

    public function messages(): array
    {
        return ColorSettingsData::messages();
    }

    public function dataClass(): string
    {
        return ColorSettingsData::class;
    }
}

Then in your controller:

public function updateColorSettings(UpdateColorSettingsRequest $request)
{
    $data = $request->getData();

    app(ColorSettings::class)->fill([
        'enabled' => $data->enabled,
        'name' => $data->name,
        'shades' => $data->shades,
    ])->save();

    return response()->json(['message' => 'Settings updated!']);
}

3. TypeScript Support

If you want to generate TypeScript types from your Data class, you can use spatie/laravel-data-export:

php artisan data:export

This will generate TypeScript types for your data classes, which you can use in your frontend.

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Summary:

• Create a ColorSettingsData data class for validation and transformation.
• Use it in your controller or a custom Form Request.
• Optionally, generate TypeScript types for frontend use.

This approach keeps your validation, transformation, and documentation (TypeScript) in sync and leverages the full power of both Spatie packages.