Saving multiple Entities for one Customer - cakephp

Question

I created a form which saves the Date and the Menu a Customer ordered. Thanks to this question: cakephp 3.x saving multiple entities - newEntities I made my own form work.
The Problem that I have now is that i need to pick for every Date and Menu a Customer. Is there way to choose the Customer only one time for all new Dates and Menus?
First my Code which is very similar to the answer i linked:
OrdersController.php
{
$order = $this->Orders->newEntity();
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$orders = $this->Orders->newEntities($this->request->getData());
debug($order);
foreach ($orders as $order)
{
$this->Orders->save($order);
}
$this->Flash->success(__('The order has been saved.'));
return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
$this->Flash->error(__('The order could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
}
$customers = $this->Orders->Customers->find('list', ['limit' => 200]);
$menuItems = $this->Orders->MenuItems->find('list', ['limit' => 200]);
$this->set(compact('order', 'customers', 'menuItems'));
}
add.ctp
<fieldset>
<legend><?= __('Neue Bestellung') ?></legend>
<?php
echo $this->Form->control('0.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
echo $this->Form->control('0.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('0.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('1.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
echo $this->Form->control('1.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('1.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
?>
</fieldset>
I know that i need to change this
echo $this->Form->control('0.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
echo $this->Form->control('1.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
but i dont know into what. I first thought if i use customer_id without a number
echo $this->Form->control('customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
or like this
echo $this->Form->control('0.1.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
it would work but i doesn't. Propably because it doesnt know where to save it cause its missing the index number in the first example and in he second example I created a new Index? I am a beginner in coding so maybe im completly wrong with that but I think thats why it doesnt work.
If I do it like I explained above, it doesnt save a value into customer. How can i choose a Customer and save multiple Dates and Menus for him?
EDIT
Because I didn't explain it precisely I try again.
My Goal is to create a Form which should save multiple Dates and Menus for a Customer. Inside the Form I want to choose 1 Customer, which I get with the customer_id. After that I want to choose multiple Dates (date) and Menus (menu_item_id) for that chosen Customer. If I press submit I want to get multiple Orders for the Customer I choose.
Example:
I choose a customer (John Sample), and now I pick for him the Date (01.01.2019) and the Menu 7. After that I pick the Date (02.02.2019) and the Menu 6. After that I pick the Date (03.02.2019) and the Menu 2.
If I save now, I want to see that the Customer I choose (John Sample) has ordered on the Dates 01.01.2019, 02.01.2019, 03.01.2019 and which menus he ordered for the Date.
Example:
Customer: John Sample | Date: 01.01.2019 | Menu: 7
Customer: John Sample | Date: 02.01.2019 | Menu: 6
Customer: John Sample | Date: 03.01.2019 | Menu: 2
The Problem that I have now is I don't know how to do that. I know that I could just pick a new Customer for every Date and Menu, like this:
<fieldset>
<legend><?= __('Neue Bestellung') ?></legend>
<?php
echo $this->Form->control('0.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
echo $this->Form->control('0.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('0.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('1.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
echo $this->Form->control('1.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('1.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
?>
</fieldset>
but that is not what I want to do. Because at the End I want to save up to 7 Orders and i dont want to choose the customer every time.
This brings me back to my Question how can I save one Customer, I pick in the form, and save multiple Dates and Menus for him?
I hope this made my Question a little clearer.
EDIT 2
My Order Table:
OrdersTable.php
class OrdersTable extends Table
{
/**
* Initialize method
*
* #param array $config The configuration for the Table.
* #return void
*/
public function initialize(array $config)
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->setTable('orders');
$this->setDisplayField('id');
$this->setPrimaryKey(['id']);
$this->belongsTo('Customers', [
'foreignKey' => 'customer_id',
]);
$this->belongsTo('MenuItems', [
'foreignKey' => 'menu_item_id',
]);
$this->belongsTo('Bills', [
'foreignKey' => 'bill_id',
]);
}
/**
* Default validation rules.
*
* #param \Cake\Validation\Validator $validator Validator instance.
* #return \Cake\Validation\Validator
*/
public function validationDefault(Validator $validator)
{
$validator
->integer('id')
->allowEmptyString('id', 'create');
$validator
->date('date')
->allowEmptyDate('date');
$validator
->boolean('bestellt')
->allowEmptyString('bestellt', false);
return $validator;
}
/**
* Returns a rules checker object that will be used for validating
* application integrity.
*
* #param \Cake\ORM\RulesChecker $rules The rules object to be modified.
* #return \Cake\ORM\RulesChecker
*/
public function buildRules(RulesChecker $rules)
{
$rules->add($rules->existsIn(['customer_id'], 'Customers'));
$rules->add($rules->existsIn(['menu_item_id'], 'MenuItems'));
$rules->add($rules->existsIn(['bill_id'], 'Bills'));
return $rules;
}
}

Answer 1

If you want to save the current customer_id with each Order, then I'd just set it in the controller. There is no real need to assign this task to the client-side, or even trust the client-side with this data.
Note: I am assuming that Order.customer_id is a foreign key referening User.id, if that is not the case, you need to adjust accordingly.
In your controller action:
// ...
debug($order);
// TODO: can't remember if this is the correct way - look this up.
$current_uid = $this->getRequest()->getSession()->read('User.id')
foreach ($orders as $order)
{
// actually set the `customer_id` to the required value before persisting
$order->customer_id = $current_uid;
$this->Orders->save($order);
}
In case you want to show it to your customers in a view, add $current_uid to the variables set for the view at the end of your controller action, and then:
<fieldset>
<legend><?= __('Neue Bestellung') ?></legend>
<?php
foreach($orders as $key => $value) {
echo $this->Form->control('${key}.customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true), 'readonly' => true, 'value' => $current_uid ));
// ...echo other fields
}
?>
</fieldset>

Answer 2

I finally found my Solution!
add.ctp
<?php
/* Kunden auswählen */
echo $this->Form->control('customer_id', array('label' => __('Kunde',true)));
/* Erster Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('0.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('0.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('0.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('0.bestellt');
/* Zweiter Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('1.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('1.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('1.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('1.bestellt');
/* Dritter Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('2.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('2.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('2.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('2.bestellt');
/* Vierter Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('3.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('3.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('3.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('3.bestellt');
/* Fünfter Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('4.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('4.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('4.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('4.bestellt');
/* Sechster Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('5.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('5.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('5.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('5.bestellt');
/* Letzter Tag */
echo $this->Form->control('6.date', array('label' => __('Datum',true), ['empty' => true]));
echo $this->Form->control('6.menu_item_id', array('label' => __('Menü',true), 'empty' => true));
echo $this->Form->control('6.customer_id',['type' => 'hidden', 'empty' => true]);
echo $this->Form->control('6.bestellt');
?>
My Javascript
$('#customer-id').change(function() {
$('#0-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#1-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#2-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#3-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#4-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#5-customer-id').val($(this).val());
$('#6-customer-id').val($(this).val());
});
Im now copying my customer_id into the hidden fields. That way im finally only need to choose my Customer one time and can create an Order for a Week.
Maybe this isnt the cleanest way to do it but it works!