laravel and validation with request

# Mastering Validation in Laravel: Why Form Requests are Your Best Friend It is a very common sticking point for developers new to or deeply exploring Laravel's request lifecycle: setting up validation correctly, especially when using custom Form Requests. The scenario you described—where code seems to bypass the controller function when using a custom Request versus plain input—points directly to a misunderstanding of how Laravel handles HTTP requests and validation layers. As a senior developer, I can assure you that your setup is fundamentally correct, but understanding the *flow* of data handling is key to debugging these subtle issues. Let's break down exactly why this happens and establish the robust pattern you should follow. We will dive deep into using Form Requests effectively, ensuring clean separation of concerns and impeccable validation. ## The Power of Form Requests: Separation of Concerns The core issue often stems from confusing *where* validation should happen. In Laravel, the best practice is to delegate all request validation logic out of your Controller and into dedicated **Form Request** classes. This adheres to the principle of Separation of Concerns (SoC). ### How Validation Should Work When you type `$request->validate(...)` directly in a controller, Laravel handles the validation internally. However, when you inject a Form Request class (like `RefundsPost $request`), Laravel automatically executes all the defined rules within that class *before* the controller method is even called. The mechanism works like this: 1. The request hits the route. 2. Laravel identifies that the route expects an input validated by `RefundsPost`. 3. Laravel hands the raw request data to the `RefundsPost` class. 4. If validation fails within the `rules()` method, Laravel immediately halts execution and redirects the user back with errors. 5. **Only if validation passes**, the validated data is passed to your controller method via the `$request` object. If you are experiencing issues where the controller isn't executing, it often means that an underlying error (like a missing required field or an invalid format) is causing an exception *before* the controller logic runs, which Laravel handles by stopping execution. If you are seeing no output at all, double-check your routing setup and ensure the route correctly