Removed my own validation source in favour of Ardent.

app/models/Account.php

@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 <?php
+use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent as Ardent;
 
-
-class Account extends Elegant
+class Account extends Ardent
 {
 
+    /**
+     * Validation rules.
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
     public static $rules
         = [
             'name'            => 'required|between:1,100',
@@ -13,6 +18,11 @@ class Account extends Elegant
 
         ];
 
+    /**
+     * Factory instructions
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
     public static $factory
         = [
             'name'            => 'string',
@@ -21,11 +31,21 @@ class Account extends Elegant
             'active'          => '1'
         ];
 
+    /**
+     * Account type.
+     *
+     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo
+     */
     public function accountType()
     {
         return $this->belongsTo('AccountType');
     }
 
+    /**
+     * User
+     *
+     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo
+     */
     public function user()
     {
         return $this->belongsTo('User');
@@ -42,11 +62,20 @@ class Account extends Elegant
     {
         $date = is_null($date) ? new \Carbon\Carbon : $date;
 
-        return floatval($this->transactions()
-            ->leftJoin('transaction_journals', 'transaction_journals.id', '=', 'transactions.transaction_journal_id')
-            ->where('transaction_journals.date', '<=', $date->format('Y-m-d'))->sum('transactions.amount'));
+        return floatval(
+            $this->transactions()
+                ->leftJoin(
+                    'transaction_journals', 'transaction_journals.id', '=', 'transactions.transaction_journal_id'
+                )
+                ->where('transaction_journals.date', '<=', $date->format('Y-m-d'))->sum('transactions.amount')
+        );
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Transactions.
+     *
+     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany
+     */
     public function transactions()
     {
         return $this->hasMany('Transaction');

app/models/Component.php

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ class Component extends Firefly\Database\SingleTableInheritanceEntity
             'user_id'           => 'exists:users,id|required',
             'name'              => 'required|between:1,255',
             'class'             => 'required',
-            'component_type_id' => 'required|exists:component_types,id'
         ];
     protected $table = 'components';
     protected $subclassField = 'class';

app/models/Elegant.php

@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-
-use \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model as Eloquent;
-class Elegant extends Eloquent
-{
-    public static $rules = [];
-    public $validator;
-
-    public function isValid()
-    {
-        $validator = Validator::make(
-            $this->toArray(),
-            $this::$rules
-        );
-        $this->validator = $validator;
-        return $validator->passes();
-    }
-} 

app/models/Preference.php

@@ -1,19 +1,23 @@
 <?php
 
-class Preference extends Elegant
+use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent;
+
+
+class Preference extends Ardent
 {
     public static $rules
         = [
-            'user_id' => 'required|exists:user,id',
+            'user_id' => 'required|exists:users,id',
             'name'    => 'required|between:1,255',
             'data'    => 'required'
         ];
 
-    public static $factory = [
-        'user_id' => 'factory|User',
-        'name' => 'string',
-        'data' => 'string'
-    ];
+    public static $factory
+        = [
+            'user_id' => 'factory|User',
+            'name'    => 'string',
+            'data'    => 'string'
+        ];
 
     public function user()
     {

app/models/Transaction.php

@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
 <?php
 
+use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent;
 
-class Transaction extends Elegant
+
+class Transaction extends Ardent
 {
     public static $rules
         = [
             'account_id'             => 'numeric|required|exists:accounts,id',
             'transaction_journal_id' => 'numeric|required|exists:transaction_journals,id',
             'description'            => 'between:1,255',
-            'amount'                 => 'required|between:-65536,65536',
+            'amount'                 => 'required|between:-65536,65536|not_in:0,0.00',
         ];
 
     public static $factory

app/models/TransactionJournal.php

@@ -1,15 +1,17 @@
 <?php
 
+use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent;
 
-class TransactionJournal extends Elegant
+
+class TransactionJournal extends Ardent
 {
 
     public static $rules
         = [
             'transaction_type_id'     => 'required|exists:transaction_types,id',
             'transaction_currency_id' => 'required|exists:transaction_currencies,id',
-            'description'             => 'between:1,255',
-            'date'                    => 'date',
+            'description'             => 'required|between:1,255',
+            'date'                    => 'required|date',
             'completed'               => 'required|between:0,1'
         ];
 

app/models/User.php

@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
 use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableTrait;
 use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
 use Illuminate\Auth\UserTrait;
+use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent;
 
-class User extends Elegant implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
+
+class User extends Ardent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
 {
 
     use UserTrait, RemindableTrait;
@@ -22,7 +24,7 @@ class User extends Elegant implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
     public static $factory
         = [
             'email'    => 'email',
-            'password' => 'string',
+            'password' => 'string|60',
             'migrated' => '0'
 
         ];