cant save associated new records in cakephp3 - cakephp

Question

To save new records in associated data with a many to 1 and a many to many as below what do I do ? I cant get it to save my data .
I get an error on trying to save a to the guardian without an id but it is a new record and I couldn't this working
controller
if ($this->request->is(['patch', 'post', 'put'])) {
$mydata=$this->request->data;
$guardian =$this->Guardians->newEntity();
$guardian->guardian_first_name = $mydata['Guardians']['guardian_first_name'];
$guardian->guardian_last_name = $mydata['Guardians']['guardian_last_name'];
$guardian->guardian_mobile = $mydata['Guardians']['guardian_mobile'];
$guardian->guardian_email = $mydata['Guardians']['guardian_email'];
$student = $this->Students->newEntity( $mydata,['associated' => ['AvailabilityForStudents','Subjects','Guardians']] );
$student->guardians = [ $guardian];
$val= $this->Students->save($student,[
'validate' => false ]);
public function initialize(array $config)
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->table('students');
$this->displayField('id');
$this->primaryKey('id');
$this->addBehavior('Timestamp');
$this->belongsTo('Users', [
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'joinType' => 'LEFT'
]);
$this->belongsTo('Guardians', [
'foreignKey' => 'guardian_id',
'joinType' => 'LEFT'
]);
$this->hasMany('AvailabilityForStudents', [
'foreignKey' => 'student_id'
]);
$this->belongsToMany('Subjects', [
'foreignKey' => 'student_id',
'targetForeignKey' => 'subject_id',
'joinTable' => 'students_subjects'
]);
}
http://book.cakephp.org/3.0/en/orm/saving-data.html#saving-with-associations
update-returned data
[
'first_name' => 'a1',
'last_name' => 'a2',
'student_mobile' => '',
'school' => '9',
'class_year' => '9',
'tutor_gender_preference' => 'No Preference',
'doing_assessment' => '0',
'tutoring_typest_id' => '1',
'address_street' => '1 gghh',
'address_suburb' => 'seagg',
'address_postcode' => '3111',
'address_state' => 'Vic',
'address_lat' => '',
'address_long' => '',
'school_address_street' => '',
'school_address_suburb' => '',
'school_address_postcode' => '',
'school_address_lat' => '',
'school_address_long' => '',
'Guardians' => [
'guardian_first_name' => 'aa',
'guardian_last_name' => 'aa',
'guardian_phone' => '03534535',
'guardian_mobile' => '0000000000',
'guardian_email' => 'a#ww.com'
],
'subjects' => [
'_ids' => [
(int) 0 => '1'
]
],
'AvailabilityForStudents' => [
'Monday' => [
'weekday' => 'Monday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Tuesday' => [
'weekday' => 'Tuesday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Wednesday' => [
'weekday' => 'Wednesday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Thursday' => [
'weekday' => 'Thursday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Friday' => [
'weekday' => 'Friday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Saturday' => [
'weekday' => 'Saturday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Sunday' => [
'weekday' => 'Sunday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
]
]
]
patched data
object(App\Model\Entity\Student) {
'first_name' => 'a1',
'last_name' => 'a2',
'student_mobile' => '',
'school' => '9',
'class_year' => (int) 9,
'tutor_gender_preference' => 'No Preference',
'doing_assessment' => (int) 0,
'tutoring_typest_id' => (int) 1,
'address_street' => '1 gghh',
'address_suburb' => 'seagg',
'address_postcode' => '3111',
'address_state' => 'Vic',
'address_lat' => '',
'address_long' => '',
'school_address_street' => '',
'school_address_suburb' => '',
'school_address_postcode' => '',
'school_address_lat' => '',
'school_address_long' => '',
'Guardians' => [
'guardian_first_name' => 'aa',
'guardian_last_name' => 'aa',
'guardian_phone' => '03534535',
'guardian_mobile' => '0000000000',
'guardian_email' => 'a#ww.com'
],
'subjects' => [
(int) 0 => object(App\Model\Entity\Subject) {
'id' => (int) 1,
'name' => 'English: Prep- Grade 3',
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Subjects'
}
],
'AvailabilityForStudents' => [
'Monday' => [
'weekday' => 'Monday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Tuesday' => [
'weekday' => 'Tuesday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Wednesday' => [
'weekday' => 'Wednesday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Thursday' => [
'weekday' => 'Thursday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Friday' => [
'weekday' => 'Friday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Saturday' => [
'weekday' => 'Saturday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
],
'Sunday' => [
'weekday' => 'Sunday',
'not_available' => '0',
'start_time' => '9:00',
'end_time' => '10:00'
]
],
'student_enq' => false,
'user_id' => (int) 7,
'student_inactive' => false,
'acknowledge' => (int) 0,
'is_email_notify' => (int) 0,
'days_joined' => (int) 0,
'satisfaction_rating' => (int) 0,
'student_unallocated' => false,
'admin_satisfaction_rating' => (int) 0,
'another_assessment' => (int) 0,
'numeracy_active' => (int) 0,
'is_waiting_assessment' => (int) 0,
'group_status' => (int) 0,
'address_billing' => '4',
'[new]' => true,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true
],
'[dirty]' => [
'first_name' => true,
'last_name' => true,
'student_mobile' => true,
'school' => true,
'class_year' => true,
'tutor_gender_preference' => true,
'doing_assessment' => true,
'tutoring_typest_id' => true,
'address_street' => true,
'address_suburb' => true,
'address_postcode' => true,
'address_state' => true,
'address_lat' => true,
'address_long' => true,
'school_address_street' => true,
'school_address_suburb' => true,
'school_address_postcode' => true,
'school_address_lat' => true,
'school_address_long' => true,
'Guardians' => true,
'subjects' => true,
'AvailabilityForStudents' => true,
'student_enq' => true,
'user_id' => true,
'student_inactive' => true,
'acknowledge' => true,
'is_email_notify' => true,
'days_joined' => true,
'satisfaction_rating' => true,
'student_unallocated' => true,
'admin_satisfaction_rating' => true,
'another_assessment' => true,
'numeracy_active' => true,
'is_waiting_assessment' => true,
'group_status' => true,
'address_billing' => true
],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Students'
}

Answer 1

I was also facing the similar problem and after all R&D, I tried this code and it worked. Hope you'll also get benefited. Here the code goes:
Let's say you have a controller "UsersController" associated with "RolesController" with "id". Then add the below line of code in your action under UsersController:
$this->loadModel('Roles');
$roles = $this->Roles->find('list');
$roles = $roles->toArray();
$this->set(compact('roles'));
Now make the following changes in your action's view file in Template folder:
echo $this->Form->select('role_id', $roles);
Here, we have assigned that variable to our form field.
With these changes, you should be able to do your task. If still face any issue, feel free to ask in comments.
KEEP CODING! HAVE FUN! :)

Answer 2

I suggest splitting the entity creation.
First, create a new entity with $student = $this->Students->newEntity();
And then patch you data to the entity like :
$student = $this->Student->patchEntity($mydata,['associated' => ['AvailabilityForStudents','Subjects','Guardians']]);
Maybe the patchEntity() method understand the association in a better manner.
Hope this solves your problem!