Using repository in a FormRequest in Laravel for custom business rule validation

Question

This is my app/Http/Requests/Organisation/CreateOrganisationRequest.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests\Organisation;

use App\Contracts\OrganisationInterface;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
use App\Http\Controllers\Api\BaseApiController;
use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\HttpException;

class CreateOrganisationRequest extends FormRequest
{
    private $organisationRepository;

    public function __construct(
        array $query = array(),
        array $request = array(),
        array $attributes = array(),
        array $cookies = array(),
        array $files = array(),
        array $server = array(),
        $content = null,
        OrganisationInterface $organisationRepository
    ) {
        parent::__construct($query, $request, $attributes, $cookies, $files, $server, $content);
        $this->organisationRepository = $organisationRepository;
    }

    public function authorize()
    {
        return true;
    }

    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'name' => 'required|min:3|max:60|unique:organisations,name'
        ];
    }

    public function withValidator($validator)
    {
        $validator->after(function() {
            $this->checkIfMaxOrganisationLimitReached();
        });
    }

    private function checkIfMaxOrganisationLimitReached()
    {
        $currentOrganisationsCount = $this->organisationRepository->myOrganisationCount();
        $maxOrganisationsLimit = auth()->user()->max_organisations;

        if (($currentOrganisationsCount + 1) > $maxOrganisationsLimit) {
            throw new HttpException(BaseApiController::Bad_Request, "You have reached maximum organisations that can be created, {$maxOrganisationsLimit}.");
        }
    }
}

and it's used in the controller like this:

public function store(CreateOrganisationRequest $request)
{
    $validatedData = array_merge(
        $request->validated(),
        ['owner_id' => auth()->user()->id]
    );

    $organisation = $this->organisationRepository->create($validatedData);

    return $this->success(
        fractal($organisation, new OrganisationTransformer()),
        $this::Created
    );
}

This works and get's the job done, but I am unsure if this is a good approach in Laravel.

P.S. The HttpException that I throw is handled by app\Exceptions\Handler.php.

---

Another approach I've considered is to add a custom attribute to User model like this:

public function getOrganisationCountAttribute()
{
    if ($this->account_owner) {
        return $this->organisations()->count();
    }
    return 0;
}

and update my CreateOrganisationRequest (i.e. the FormRequest) by removing the repository and do this instead in my business rule validation:

private function checkIfMaxOrganisationLimitReached()
{
    $currentOrganisationsCount = auth()->user()->organisation_count;
    $maxOrganisationsLimit = auth()->user()->max_organisations;

    if (($currentOrganisationsCount + 1) > $maxOrganisationsLimit) {
        throw new HttpException(BaseApiController::Bad_Request, "You have reached maximum organisations that can be created, {$maxOrganisationsLimit}.");
    }
}