phalcon/cphalcon · error · Phalcon\Filter\Validation\Exceptions\NoValidators

There are no validators to validate

Error message

There are no validators to validate

What it means

validate() begins by reading $this->validators and requires it to be an array. NoValidators ('There are no validators to validate') is thrown when that property is NOT an array — the property is initialized to [] and setValidators() is typed array, so in practice this means something corrupted or replaced the protected property (a subclass assigning null/false, or an unserialize artifact).

Source

Thrown at phalcon/Filter/Validation.zep:629

     * $validation->validate($_POST, $entity, $fields);
     * ```
     *
     * @param array|object $data the data that needs to be validated
     * @param object $entity the entity object to assign data to
     * @param array $whitelist only allow these fields to be mutated when entity is used
     *
     * @return Messages|false
     */
    public function validate(var data = null, var entity = null, array whitelist = []) -> <Messages> | bool
    {
        var combinedFieldsValidators, field, scope, status, validator,
            validatorData, validators, inputData = null;

        let validatorData            = this->validators,
            combinedFieldsValidators = this->combinedFieldsValidators;

        if unlikely typeof validatorData != "array" {
            throw new NoValidators();
        }

        /**
         * Clear pre-calculated values
         */
        let this->values = [];

        /**
         * Implicitly creates a Phalcon\Messages\Messages object
         */
        let this->messages = new Messages();
        if (data !== null) {
            // if data is provided
            if unlikely typeof data != "array" && typeof data != "object" {
                throw new InvalidValidationData();
            }
            let this->data = data;
            let inputData = data;

View on GitHub (pinned to b7419de9cd)

Solutions

1. Never overwrite $validators with a non-array — build it with add(), rule(), rules(), or setValidators(array)
2. In subclasses, call parent::__construct() and mutate via the public API
3. If the object comes from cache/session, rebuild the validation instead of unserializing a corrupted copy
4. An empty validator set is legal ([]); no special case is needed for 'no rules'

Example fix

// before
class MyValidation extends Validation
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->validators = null; // later validate() throws NoValidators
    }
}

// after
class MyValidation extends Validation
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->rule('email', new Email());
    }
}

if (!is_array($validation->getValidators())) {
    throw new RuntimeException('Validation validator map corrupted: rebuild the object instead of reusing it');
}
$messages = $validation->validate($data);

use Phalcon\Filter\Validation\Exceptions\NoValidators;
try {
    $messages = $v->validate($data);
} catch (NoValidators $e) {
    $v->setValidators($this->buildRuleSet()); // rebuild from a known-good source
    $messages = $v->validate($data);
}

When it happens

Trigger: A custom subclass of Validation whose constructor or hook does $this->validators = null; state restored from a broken serialization where the array was lost; legacy code assigning a non-array copied from old tutorials.

Common situations: Extending Phalcon\Filter\Validation and redeclaring/overwriting $validators without keeping it an array; object caching/session serialization of validation objects that dropped the property.

Related errors

• The validator scope is not valid
• Unable to insert into {table} without data
• The number of values in the update is not the same as fields
• RETURNING requires at least one column or '*'
• Field must be passed as array of fields or string

AI-assisted analysis of phalcon/cphalcon@b7419de9cd (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/34bdb97241075860. Report an issue: GitHub.