I'm also new to Phalcon, but as I know. You can create your own validator.
On controller you should get the array from Request, example:
$abcValues = $this->request->getPost("abc");//If you're using form method POST to send data
You can validate on controller action method, or you can create your own Validator.
There is an example of custom validator:
https://docs.phalcon.io/pt/latest/reference/validation.html#cancelling-validations
On your own validator you could do something like this:
class ArrayValidator extends Validator implements ValidatorInterface
{
public function validate(Validation $validator, $attribute)
{
// If the attribute value is name we must stop the chain
if (is_array($attribute) && count(attribute) > 0) {
//Validate whatever
return true;//Valid data
}
return false;//invalid data
}
}
Of course you should create this on a folder that is loaded on loader, like "library" folder as shown on INVO example.
And on your validation logic do something like this:
....
validation->add('abc', new ArrayValidator(array(
'message': 'Oh Snap! You gave me the wrong data'
)));
....
There are some other resources on forum about "Custom Validator" which could be usefull, but is pretty much it.