Cakephp multiple input fields - cakephp

Question

I'm a newbie at cakephp. I got a form with 5 inputs. My form should be able to save either one user input or all 5 inputs. I'm able to save when user fills all 5 inputs, however, when user fills only 1 or 2 and saves it. Blank spaces with date created (current date) gets saved in the database. How can i make it to save only the user inputs from the form without any empty fields in the database. My Add function below.
public function add() {
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$this->Item->create();
for ($i=0;$i<5;$i++){
if(empty($this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'])){
}else{
$name = $this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'];
$explode_name = explode(":",$name);
$this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'] = $explode_name[0];
$this->request->data['Item'][$i]['hrid'] = $explode_name[1];
}
}
if ($this->Item->saveAll($this->request->data['Item'])) {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The Item has been saved'));
$this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The item could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
}
}
$itemTypes = $this->Item->ItemType->find('list',array('order' =>array('ItemType.name' => 'asc')));
$this->set(compact('itemTypes'));
}

Answer 1

There is a small thing that you are missing, and it is that whether there is name empty or not but it has a value set for that particular index. You should unset that in case the value is empty as below
public function add() {
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$this->Item->create();
for ($i=0;$i<5;$i++){
if(empty($this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'])){
// here we are removing the empty name index so that it does not saves the result
unset($this->request->data['Item'][$i]);
}else{
$name = $this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'];
$explode_name = explode(":",$name);
$this->request->data['Item'][$i]['name'] = $explode_name[0];
$this->request->data['Item'][$i]['hrid'] = $explode_name[1];
}
}
// also here we should check here that atleast there is one entry
if(!empty($this->request->data['Item'])){
if ($this->Item->saveAll($this->request->data['Item'])) {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The Item has been saved'));
$this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The item could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
}
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('There is no such item. Please fill value for at least one item.'));
}
}
$itemTypes = $this->Item->ItemType->find('list',array('order' =>array('ItemType.name' => 'asc')));
$this->set(compact('itemTypes'));
}
Please try the above code.

Answer 2

In CakePHP 2.x you can do it as like below-
public function add(){
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$this->Item->create();
$items = $this->request->data['Item']; /*Get all items Array*/
$items = array_filter(array_map('array_filter', $items)); /*Remove all empty array, only keep Array with user inputs*/
if ($this->Item->saveAll($items)) {
/*Success*/
} else {
/*Error*/
}
}
}
In CakePHP 3.x you can do it as like below-
public function add() {
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$items = $this->request->data['Item']; /*Get all items Array*/
$items = array_filter(array_map('array_filter', $items)); /*Remove all empty array, only keep Array with user inputs*/
$entities = $this->Item->newEntities($items); /*Prepare all Data*/
if($this->Item->saveMany($entities)){ /*Save all data*/
/*Success*/
}else{
/*Error*/
}
}
}