multiply entries with a single add - cakephp-2.0

Question

I'm trying to add a repeat function to my Events/add.
So if I have the same Event from Monday to Friday (or even more days) the user can add everything in a single add, instead than one by one.
I added an input field in Events/add.ctp which is:
$this->Form->input('repeat', array('type' => 'number'));
to compare it in a do - while loop in beforeSave()
if(!empty($this->data[$this->alias]['repeat'])) {
$repeat = $this->data['Event']['repeat'];
$i = 0;
do {
$start = strtotime($this->data[$this->alias]['start'] . ' +1 day');
$end = strtotime($this->data[$this->alias]['end'] . ' +1 day');
$this->data[$this->alias]['start'] = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $start);
$this->data[$this->alias]['end'] = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $end);
$this->create();
$this->save($this->data);
//i think here's the problem... this shouldn't be done here right?
$i++;
} while ($repeat >= $i);
}
I ran out of ideas on how to make this possible..
I know that I have to use beforeSave to handle data after the add action, but obviously I cannot save data in before save... any hints?

Answer 1

Definitely don't do it in beforeSave. As you said, is kind of weird having a save inside a beforeSave... Hasn't it give you loop problems even? Because you do a save inside the loop, and $this->data keeps having the same repeat value inside... it will be repeating forever and spaming that poor events table.
No, definitely get that loop out of there.
I think the best way to do this is to add a new function in your model
public function saveRepeating($data) {
if(!empty($data[$this->alias]['repeat'])) {
$repeat = $data['Event']['repeat'];
unset($data['Event']['repeat']); //prevent loops!
$i = 0;
do {
$start = strtotime($data[$this->alias]['start'] . ' +1 day');
$end = strtotime($data[$this->alias]['end'] . ' +1 day');
$data[$this->alias]['start'] = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $start);
$data[$this->alias]['end'] = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $end);
$this->create();
$this->save($data);
$i++;
} while ($repeat >= $i);
}
}
And in your controller, call that function instead of save with
$this->Model->saveRepeating($data);
Notice I didn't really change anything inside your loop, just $this->data for $data. But having it as a separate function avoids any weird problems with beforeSave. Oh, and I added an unset to the repeat variable to prevent any loop (delete that unset if you want to save the repeat value to a table, though). You can add a return value to validate that every event got saved, or handle exceptions, etc.
Remember to return the beforeSave as it was before!