Laravel Simple ValidateableModelTrait

ExampleController.php

<?php

class ExampleController extends BaseController {

    public function addUser()
    {
        $user = User::create(Input::all());

        // if validation not passes
        if(false == $user->isSaved()) {
            $error_messages = $user->getErrorsValidation();
            return Redirect::back()->withErrors($error_messages)->withInput();
        }

        // user sucessfully saved...
        return Redirect::route('login');
    }

}

User.php

<?php

// example user model

class User extends Eloquent {
    
    use ValidateableModelTrait;    

    protected $fillable = ['username', 'password'];

    protected function getRules()
    {
        return [
            'username' => 'required|min:6|max:16',
            'password' => 'required'
        ];
    }
    
    protected function getInsertRules()
    {
        return [
            'username' => 'required|min:6|max:16|unique:users'
        ];
    }

}

ValidateableModelTrait.php

<?php

trait ValidateableModelTrait {

	protected $rules = array();
	protected $rules_insert = array();
	protected $rules_update = array();

	protected $validation_errors = array();
	protected $validator = null;

	protected $ignored_validation_attributes = array();

	protected $is_saved;

	/**
	 * Override create method from eloquent model
	 * 
	 * @param attributes set of filled attributes
	 * @param custom_rules for inject custom validation rules
	 * @param custom_messages custom error validation messages
	 * @return Model 
	 */
	public static function create(
			array $attributes, 
			array $custom_rules = array(),
			array $custom_messages = array()
		)
	{
		$model = new static($attributes);

		$model->save(array('merge_values' => $attributes), $custom_rules, $custom_messages);
		return $model;
	}

	/**
	 * Override save method from eloquent model
	 *
	 * @param array options (from eloquent model)
	 * @param array custom_rules for inject(or modify) custom rules
	 * @param array custom_messages validation custom error messages
	 * @return Model
	 */
	public function save(
			array $options = array(), 
			array $custom_rules = array(), 
			array $custom_messages = array()
		)
	{
		$this->is_saved = false;

		$rules = $this->getRules();

		if( ! $this->exists) {
			$rules = array_merge($rules, $this->getInsertRules());
		} else {
			$rules = array_merge($rules, $this->getUpdateRules());
		}

		$rules = array_merge($rules, $custom_rules);

		if( ! empty($rules)) {
			$merge_values = isset($options['merge_values'])? $options['merge_values'] : array();
			$values = array_merge($this->attributes, array_except($merge_values, array_keys($this->attributes)));

			foreach($this->ignored_validation_attributes as $attr)
			{
				unset($values[$attr]);
				unset($rules[$attr]);
			}

			$this->validator = \Validator::make($values, $rules, $custom_messages);

			if($this->validator->fails()) {
				$this->validation_errors = $this->validator->messages();
				return $this;
			}

			$this->ignored_validation_attributes = array();
		}

		$this->validator = null;
		
		$model = parent::save($options);

		if($model) {
			$this->is_saved = true;
		}

		return $this;
	}

	/**
	 * Set ignored validation attributes
	 *
	 * @param array attributes to ignored
	 */
	public function ignoreValidationAttributes(array $attributes)
	{
		$this->ignored_validation_attributes = array_merge($this->ignored_validation_attributes, $attributes);
	}

	/**
	 * Check if model successfuly saved (validation passes and model saved)
	 *
	 * @return boolean
	 */
	public function isSaved()
	{
		return $this->is_saved;
	}

	/**
	 * Get laravel validator object (only after validating model)
	 *
	 * @return Validator or null
	 */
	public function getValidator()
	{
		return $this->validator;
	}

	/**
	 * Get error validation
	 *
	 * @return array error messages
	 */
	public function getErrorsValidation()
	{
		return $this->validation_errors;
	}

	/**
	 * Get general validation rules
	 */
	public function getRules()
	{
		return $this->rules;
	}

	/**
	 * Get update rules
	 */
	public function getUpdateRules()
	{
		return $this->rules_update;
	}

	/**
	 * Get insert rules
	 */
	public function getInsertRules()
	{
		return $this->rules_insert;
	}

}