cakephp setting user_id to current user - cakephp-2.0

Question

I am working in CakePHP 2.x
Currently in my app the user can select to add something as any user. I want to force them to have thier own id as the "user_id". User_id is a foreign key and i am using ACL, Auth. I have tried to set the data in the controller by using $this->Data => $this->auth->user('id); but it doesn't seam to set the value.
Cakephp Add View:
<?php echo $this->Form->create('Asset'); ?>
<fieldset>
<legend><?php echo __('Add Asset'); ?></legend>
<?php
echo $this->Form->input('asset_name');
echo $this->Form->input('description');
echo $this->Form->input('vaule');
echo $this->Form->input('date_bought');
echo $this->Form->input('date_freehold');
echo $this->Form->input('user_id');
?>
</fieldset>
<?php echo $this->Form->end(__('Submit')); ?>
cake php controller:
public function add() {
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$this->Asset->create();
if ($this->Asset->save($this->request->data)) {
$this->data['Assets']['user_id'] = $this->Auth->user('id');
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The asset has been saved'));
$this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The asset could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
}
}
$users = $this->Asset->User->find('list');
$this->set(compact('users'));
}
Cake Php Model:
class Asset extends AppModel {
/**
* Validation rules
*
* #var array
*/
public $validate = array(
'asset_name' => array(
'notempty' => array(
'rule' => array('notempty'),
//'message' => 'Your custom message here',
//'allowEmpty' => false,
//'required' => false,
//'last' => false, // Stop validation after this rule
//'on' => 'create', // Limit validation to 'create' or 'update' operations
),
),
'date_bought' => array(
'date' => array(
'rule' => array('date'),
//'message' => 'Your custom message here',
//'allowEmpty' => false,
//'required' => false,
//'last' => false, // Stop validation after this rule
//'on' => 'create', // Limit validation to 'create' or 'update' operations
),
),
'user_id' => array(
'numeric' => array(
'rule' => array('numeric'),
//'message' => 'Your custom message here',
//'allowEmpty' => false,
//'required' => false,
//'last' => false, // Stop validation after this rule
//'on' => 'create', // Limit validation to 'create' or 'update' operations
),
),
);
//The Associations below have been created with all possible keys, those that are not needed can be removed
/**
* belongsTo associations
*
* #var array
*/
public $belongsTo = array(
'User' => array(
'className' => 'User',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
)
);
}
Not 100% sure how or where to do this, any help would be hugely apcreciated thanks guys.

Answer 1

Here's how I do it, thought it might be worth posting as it's a little less code;
// in AppController
function beforeFilter() {
// setup auth here
...
$this->set('authUser', $this->Auth->user());
...
}
// in Add view's form
...
echo $this->Form->hidden('user_id', array('value'=>$authUser['id']));
...