Create an instance of a Model in its Controller - cakephp

Question

This is probably a simple question but I'm having a hard time trying to create an object of the Model. I want to create a temporary variable that is the same as the model so I can update its internal values according to the data I am posting to the action.
My data is successfully posted to the action in the controller.
Currently what I am doing is grabbing all the items in the database and then assigning it the first item from the array. This way I can overwrite existing value, but if the table is empty it won't work.
I am using cakephp 2.x, I am new to this stuff which will explain why I couldn't figure this out.
Here is the code from the controller:
public function lcadd()
{
if ($this->request->is('post'))
{
// Create a new Local Clock object
$temp = $this->LocalClock->find('all'); // THIS IS THE PROBLEM AREA
$temp = $temp[0];
$temp['LocalClock']['name'] = $this->request->data['LocalClock']['Name'];
debug($temp); // THIS DEBUG ONLY DISPLAYS SOMETHING IF THE DATABASE TABLE IS NOT EMPTY
debug($this->request->data); // THE DATA COMING IN IS CORRECT AND I CAN ACCESS IT WITHOUT A PROBLEM
if($this->request->data['LocalClock']['Time Zone'] == 0 or $this->request->data['LocalClock']['Time Zone'] == -1)
{
//debug('Hello');
$temp['LocalClock']['auto_offset'] = 1;
}
else if($this->request->data['LocalClock']['Time Zone'] == 1)
{
$temp['LocalClock']['auto_offset'] = 0;
}
// Check the value posted from the DST
if($this->request->data['LocalClock']['DST Definition'] == -1 or $this->request->data['LocalClock']['DST Definition'] == 0)
{
$temp['LocalClock']['in_month'] = 0;
}
else if($this->request->data['LocalClock']['DST Definition'] == 2)
{
$temp['LocalClock']['in_month'] = $this->request->data['LocalClock']['InMonth'];
}
if ($this->LocalClock->save($temp))
{
$this->set('localClocks', $this->request->data);
$this->set('islcAddValid', true);
$this->set('lcaddValidationErrors', false);
}
}
}
I can't figure out how to make a simple object from the model. The model is LocalClock, and the controller is LocalClocksController.
The function above is in the LocalClocksController.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

A few things I noticed...
FIRST ISSUE:
// Create a new Local Clock object
$temp = $this->LocalClock->find('all'); // THIS IS THE PROBLEM AREA
$temp = $temp[0];
That's not creating a new Local Clock object. The first line returns an array (ie, not an object) containing ALL records in your Local Clock database table. Then, the second line says 'take the first row of the results, and store it in $temp'. So, now $temp holds an array (still NOT an object), containing the data of the first record in the LocalClock table.
You actually don't need an object, though, since the 'save' method that you call later on doesn't accept an object - it just accepts an array of data. You also don't need to get anything from the database in order to save a new record. So the code above should be replaced with:
$temp = array(); // Create an empty array. We will populate it as we go, with the data for the new record.
All the stuff in the middle of your method, up until you try to save the record, should work fine as it is.
SECOND ISSUE:
if ($this->LocalClock->save($temp))
Before calling 'save', you'll first need to call 'create' -
$this->LocalClock->create(); // prepare the Model to save a new record
if ($this->LocalClock->save($temp)) // This should now save a new record successfully.
Make sense? Let me know if you have any more questions.
Also, understanding how to retrieve, manipulate and save data from Models is very crucial to using CakePHP, and if you learn how to do it properly from the beginning, you'll save yourself countless hours of frustration in future. I'd recommend reading the following pages end-to-end:
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/retrieving-your-data.html
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/saving-your-data.html