Where is it better to start filtering the passed comment text for later saving?

Question

Laravel

Task : to implement the ability for some user groups to leave links in the comments, for the rest - to delete links.

Data from the user gets into the controller,

public function store(StoreReviewRequest $request) {}

where they are validated, then I get valid data: $validatedData = $request->validated();

Then I need to apply filters to the review/comment text, for this I wrote a filter:

filter

abstract class Filter
{
    protected $content;
    protected $filter;

    public function __construct($content,array $filters)
    {
        $this->content = $content;
        $this->filters = $filters;
    }

    public function apply()
    {
       // code
    }

}

TextFilter

class TextFilter extends Filter
{
    /**
     * Wrap links filter
     * 
     * @return void
     */
    public function wrapLinks()
    {
       // Code
    }
}

I wrote a gate with which I check the user's ability to leave links in the comments:

if(Gate::allows('useLinkInComments', $request->user()) {
  //code
}

And actually, before passing the data to the model, I need to apply these filters after checking the Gate. I do it like this:

new TextFilter($validatedData['message'],['wrap-links'])->apply();

Where is the best place to do it? In the controller? In this case (if the logic grows), the controller will grow to a large size. Use the afterValidation hook? But they seem to write that it is purely for customizing errors. What are the correct solutions to my problem?

Answer 1

There are many ways to do this, but definitely not in the controller.
I would make CommentObserver:

php artisan make:observer CommentObserver --model=Comment

and there in the method saving(Comment $comment)I would check whether the user has the right (using a policy, not a gate, by the way) and filter it as it should.