Laravel 5.2 - extending the Validator class

ReflectionException in Route.php line 270:

Class App\Http\Requests\FooRequest does not exist

This is the error I get when trying to use extensions of the native Validator and Request classes. This is what I did:

1. Extend native Illuminate\Validation\Validator:

   class MyCustomValidator extends Validator {
   
       //override some functions here
   
   }
   
   

2. Use MyCustomValidator in an abstract extension of native App\Http\Requests\Request:

   abstract class MyCustomRequest extends Request {
   
       //Override native method by injecting the extending validator
       protected function formatErrors( MyCustomValidator $validator )
       {
           return $validator->getMessageBag()->toArray();
       }
   }
   
   

3. Extend MyCustomRequest with concrete class:

   class FooRequest extends MyCustomRequest
   {
   
       public function authorize()
       {
           return true;
       }
   
   
       public function rules()
       {
           return [
               // rules go here
           ];
       }
   }
   
   

4. Use the FooRequest in a controller method:

   public function store(FooRequest $request) {
       //use the request and persist
   }
   
   

---

I am guessing I am lacking a required facade, provider, or container binding. I'm still learning these topics and don't understand them well enough to know a good next step.

References:

• Custom validator in Laravel 5 - I followed the answer, but still got the same error. I want to know if this is is even remotely related to my problem before troubleshooting what I tried here.

• Extending Custom Validation-Class - Problem looks similar, answer suggests using Validator::extend, which I know can be done in AppServiceProvider, but ideally my code should be in its own vendor package. Again, not sure if relevant.

via Chebli Mohamed