# Cakephp 4: Conditional validation using callback

**URL:** <https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193>\
**Category:** Need Help\
**Tags:** help\
**Created:** [March 31, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193 "2021-03-31T17:32:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![die7fox](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/die7fox/32/1970_2.png) [@die7fox](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/die7fox)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193/1 "2021-03-31T17:32:52Z")

</div>

I have two fields on my form: one for a date and one checkbox if the date is not required:

```
echo $this->Form->control('need_date', ['label' => 'Requested Need Date', 'empty' => true]); 
echo $this->Form->control('no_need_date', ['type' => 'checkbox', 'label' => 'Not Required', 'empty => true]); 

```

If the user checks the ‘Not Required’ checkbox, then they do not have to provide a need date, so BOTH of these controls cannot be empty. I’ve tried using a callback in my model to reflect this:

```
$validator
        ->notEmptyDate('need_date', 'Please enter the Need Date, or check \'Not Required\' if no need date.', function ($context) {
            if (!isset($context['data']['no_need_date'])) {
                return false;
            } else {
                return true;
            }
        }); 

```

The problem: Validation fails even if I check ‘Not Required’, and the validation error message is displayed. If I change the condition to `empty($context['data']['no_need_date'])` or `$context['data']['no_need_date'] == false`, then validation gets skipped entirely. Where am I going wrong? The `no_need_date` field is nullable in my database and has no default value.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jawfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@Jawfin](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/Jawfin)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193/2 "2021-03-31T22:07:25Z")

</div>

Could be a falsey thing. or isset($context[‘data’][‘no\_need\_date’] could be set with the value ‘false’ so that the isset passes. Replace your whole `if` statement with: -

```auto
return $context['data']['no_need_date'] === 'checked';

```

or something like that. May need to debug that value to see what is really being passed when both checked and unchecked.

Also, your code doesn’t have a closing quote on your `'empty => true]);` - no quote after the word empty.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![die7fox](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/die7fox/32/1970_2.png) [@die7fox](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/die7fox)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193/3 "2021-04-01T13:31:41Z")

</div>

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem.

Debugging shows that `no_need_date` has a value of ‘0’ when unchecked and a value of ‘1’ when checked. But no matter how I format my callback, it doesn’t seem to care.

(The missing end quote was a backspacing error.)

EDIT:

Got it working this way:

```
$validator
        ->notEmptyString('need_date', 'Please enter the Need Date, or check \'Not Required\' if no need date.', function ($context) {
            return $context['data']['no_need_date'] === '0' ? true : false;
        }); 

```

Originally, I was trying to get it to evaluate to ‘false’ to trigger the validation error, and to ‘true’ to get it to pass. Reversing them fixed it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jawfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@Jawfin](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/Jawfin)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193/4 "2021-04-01T21:58:00Z")

</div>

This is more of a PHP question, but what is the difference between

```auto
return $context['data']['no_need_date'] === '0' ? true : false;

```

and

```auto
return $context['data']['no_need_date'] === '0';

```

without the ternary operator? I would have thought the `===` condition would return a boolean typed value. (Old school: seeing a Boolean condition return explicitly stated true or false makes my eye twitch, hehe - I’m still sometimes lost with falsey stuff!)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![die7fox](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/die7fox/32/1970_2.png) [@die7fox](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/die7fox)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/cakephp-4-conditional-validation-using-callback/9193/5 "2021-04-07T14:27:55Z")

</div>

I wish I knew! It baffles me, too. But only the the ternary statement worked in my model.