How to define a checkbox variable in Cakephp - cakephp

Question

I have a form in my Plugin elements and what i would like to insert the checkbox value into a table named it_queries and field status_type and its giving me an error Undefined variable: variableValue [APP\Plugin\Feedback\View\Elements\comment_add.ctp, line 37] .I have declared the variable in my controller like this
$this->set('variableValueStatus', 'Pending');
and this is line 37 thats giving me the error
Below is the Controller code
App::uses('FeedbackAppController', 'Feedback.Controller');
class CommentsController extends FeedbackAppController
{
public $components = array('Feedback.Comments');
public function add($foreign_model = null, $foreign_id = null)
{
if (empty($foreign_model) ||
empty($foreign_id) ||
!$this->request->is('post')
)
{
foreach ($_POST['likebutton'] as $pageId => $likeFlag) {
$dbFlag = $likeFlag ? 'Yes' : 'No';
}
return $this->redirect('/');
}
App::uses($foreign_model, 'Model');
$Model = ClassRegistry::init($foreign_model);
if (!($Model instanceof Model))
{
return $this->redirect('/');
}
if ($Model->hasAny(array($Model->primaryKey => $foreign_id)) == false)
{
return $this->redirect('/');
}
if (!isset($this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_model']) ||
!isset($this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_id']) ||
$this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_model'] != $foreign_model ||
$this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_id'] != $foreign_id)
{
return $this->redirect('/');
}
$user_id = null;
if (isset($this->Auth))
{
$user_id = $this->Auth->user('id');
}
$this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_model'] = $Model->name;
$this->request->data['Comment']['foreign_id'] = $foreign_id;
$this->request->data['Comment']['user_id'] = $user_id;
$this->Comment->create();
if (!$this->Comment->save($this->request->data))
{
$this->set('validation_errors', $this->Comment->validationErrors);
return;
}
$this->redirect($this->request->referer().'#comment-'.$this->Comment->id);
}
}
and in the add view in my element here is how i am trying to accessing the variable value
echo $this->Form->checkbox('ItQuery.status_type', array('type' => 'hidden', 'value'=>$variableValueStatus));
If someone can show me how to fix this, that would be awesome

Answer 1

You are only passing the variable down on !post and if foreign model and foreign id are not set.
That will most likely not work in most of the cases.
You should be always passing down a variable if you do not check on it in the view prior to using it.
But it would still be wrong, anyway. You would have to use "default" instead of "value" if you dont want your form to fall back on the old value on POST (which it shouldnt).
Also, it is always better to use $this->request->data to properly fill the form with defaults:
if (!$this->request->is('post')) {
$this->request->data['ItQuery']['status_type'] = 'Pending';
}
See working-with-forms