I have this html on my contact form:

<div class="form-group">
     <label class="col-md-2 control-label" for="type">Type of website?</label>
     <div class="col-md-10 inputGroupContainer">
          <div class="input-group">
               <span class="input-group-addon"><i class="fa fa-file-code-o"></i></span>
               <select class="form-control" id="type">
                  <option>Business</option>
                  <option>Company</option>
                  <option>Personal</option>
                  <option>Online Shopping</option>
                  <option>Other</option>
               </select>
          </div>
     </div>
</div>

How can I validate and pass data of this field in email?

Currently I have this:

<!-- Text input-->
<div class="form-group">
      <label class="col-md-2 control-label">Type</label>
      <div class="col-md-10 inputGroupContainer">
           <div class="input-group">
               <span class="input-group-addon"><i class="fa fa-file-code-o"></i></span>
               <input  name="type" placeholder="eg. Business, Company, Personal, Online Shopping, etc." class="form-control"  type="text">
           </div>
      </div>
</div>

And I validate and pass it like this:

$data = array(
        'type' => $request->type,
      );

but that's input field what I want is my first sample (select box), so I'm not sure how to do it!

thanks.

First Give THe Name To Select drop down fields, then after Simplest Way Is use in Validation Rules with the name of select input fields. that you give required

Example:

<select class="form-control" id="type" name="Business_Type">
    <option value="">Select Type</option>
    <option value="Business">Business</option>
    <option value="Company">Company</option>
    <option value="Personal">Personal</option>
    <option value="Online Shopping">Online Shopping</option>
    <option value="Other">Other</option>
</select>

Validation rules

// Validation rules somewhere...
$rules = [
    ...
    'Business_Type' => 'required',
    ...
];

You need to validate your select with required and for that you need to setup select like:

Select into blade:

<select class="form-control" id="type" name="selType">
    <option value="">Select Type</option>
    <option value="Business">Business</option>
    <option value="Company">Company</option>
    <option value="Personal">Personal</option>
    <option value="Online Shopping">Online Shopping</option>
    <option value="Other">Other</option>
</select>

Validation rules somewhere:

$rules = [
    'selType' => 'required'
];

You can do it like this :

<div class="form-group">
  <label class="col-md-2 control-label" for="type">Type of website?</label>
  <div class="col-md-10 inputGroupContainer">
    <div class="input-group">
      <span class="input-group-addon"><i class="fa fa-file-code-o"></i></span>
      <select class="form-control" id="type" name="typeSelection">
        <option>--Select type--</option>
        <option>Business</option>
        <option>Company</option>
        <option>Personal</option>
        <option>Online Shopping</option>
        <option>Other</option>
      </select>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

For the rules :

$rules = [
    'typeSelection' => 'required|not_in:0'
];

not_in:0 to avoid submission of the first choice witch is --Select type-- :)

And to pass infos to the validation just use $request->all() because it will use the field name in this case typeSelection no need for ctreating a new array !