Defining Default Values

Sometimes we can have properties that are optional and that can have default values. You can define the default values for your DTO properties in the defaults function:

class UserDTO extends ValidatedDTO
{
    protected function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'name'     => ['required', 'string'],
            'email'    => ['required', 'email'],
            'username' => ['sometimes', 'string'],
            'password' => [
                'required',
                Password::min(8)
                    ->mixedCase()
                    ->letters()
                    ->numbers()
                    ->symbols()
                    ->uncompromised(),
            ],
        ];
    }

    protected function defaults(): array
    {
        return [
            'username' => Str::snake($this->name),
        ];
    }
}

With the DTO definition above you could run:

$dto = new UserDTO([
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'email' => '[e-mail]',
    'password' => 's3CreT!@1a2B'
]);

$dto->username; // 'john_doe'

Alternatively, for simpler cases, you can use the DefaultValue attribute:

use WendellAdriel\ValidatedDTO\Attributes\DefaultValue;
use WendellAdriel\ValidatedDTO\Concerns\EmptyDefaults;

class UserDTO extends ValidatedDTO
{
    use EmptyDefaults;

    public string $name;

    public string $email;

    #[DefaultValue(true)]
    public bool $active;
}

If you're using attributes to define your properties default values or if you don't have any defaults values for the properties, you can use the EmptyDefaults trait to avoid having to define the defaults() method.