I would like to set $this->data in a view rather than the controller. Will this work with the form helper to automagically input values?
many thanks!
Further explanation if you really want to know...
You may wonder why I wouldn't just put the values right into the value field but it makes sense in this situation to put it into $this->data; I have a ton of fields of various types and I do not want to have to add if isset() to every value field because form fields are generated based on a stored value and may or may not have already been filled in. I cannot set this->data in the controller because of the data being in JSON. Plus the data has to go through several layers before getting to where it is at this point.
unresolved but I got around it by entering everything manually. It would have been nice to add it automagically.
I am new to Cakephp and indeed OOP, so forgive me if i haven't fully grasped the MVC concept yet. I have search a lot but cannot find an answer - perhaps my way of working below is not correct. I hope you can help.
I am building a site which will have many elements relating to their tables and data. I intend to use a view to pick and choose the relevant elements and any parameters needed.
For example, the homepage of my site will have two elements - a latestusers element and a latestscores element. I am trying to use a view not related to either the users or scores models/controllers, stored in 'other/index.ctp'.
I have tried using set() to pass a variable from the users controller (latestusers action) into the other/index.ctp view, but the viewVars remain empty. Could this be due to scope of the variable (i think it is fine for a view in the users folder, i.e. a view specific to the users controller).
I could achieve what i want to do by using global variables, but i think this is missing the point of MVC/OOP. Would be grateful for any suggestions.
I can include code if need be - it is fairly basic at this stage - but i feel my problem lies with how i am going about things, not the code itself.
Cheers,
James
Yes, the issue is with the scope. If you're going to use variables in the element you'll need to pass them in from your view. So the flow would look something like this
Controller $this->set()s the variable into your current view/layout
Your view/layout calls $this->element with the current element path.
Your element uses those variables.
In number 2 you need to pass your variables as an array of data. This section on the cookbook gives more information : http://book.cakephp.org/view/1081/Elements
<?php echo$this->element('helpbox',
array("helptext" => "Oh, this text is very helpful."));?>
Note - I didn't understand part of the question. Just want to make sure you are passing data to the correct view. You should not be calling the view of another controller in your active controller.
Your other/index.ctp should be an element and that element should be called from your layout.
I am writing a function within the php of the model. Is there any issue with using
$this->field('something)
while inside the model? I can use other things like $this->saveField(...) fine but for some reason this is not returning me the value in the table correctly. Just wanted to make sure, thanks!
You have to specify the conditions first, like so:
$this->field('field_name', $conditions);
Or, I think you can also try setting the id first
$this->id = $id;
$this->field('field_name');
I want to add a new user to the database, and do so by making them fill in a form and submitting this. All seems to work fine. Just before my save() call in the controller I return all data and all necessary data is there. It is valid(ated), since no errors are returned.
But then nothing happens. I'm being returned to my form without any errors being shown.
This is my 'save-line':
if($this->Registratie->save($this->data)) {
I'm not making use of any beforeSave() methods.
Using debug($this->validationErrors); shows:
app/controllers/registratie_controller.php (line 45)
Which is the line of code from above.
I've been going through my code over and over. What could the problem be?
When you create a form using the FormHelper it will generate input names like:
<input type='text' name='data[Registratie][first_name]'>
Once the form is submitted cake will push that into the $this->data array with an index of 'Registratie'
You probably need to pass the index to the model when saving
if ($this->Registratie->save( $this->data['Registratie'] ) ) {
I would also do a var_dump($this->data) or print_r($this->data) to make sure your form fields are coming through.
I had the same problem, fixed doing exactly what Jack B Nimble told. Using CakePHP 1.3
Sample:
Model: Contacts
$this->data['contact']
I need to perform some validation. I don't have the model in the application.
Does anyone know how to do the validation without a model?
Can you show me using a small sample or statement?
Honestly, I'd create a model just for the validation. You can create a model that doesn't use a table by adding
var $useTable = false;
And then create a validation array with rules for each field you want to validate:
var $validate = array('login' => 'alphaNumeric','email' => 'email','born' => 'date');
Then, in your controller, do something like:
$this->MyModel->set($this->data);
if($this->MyModel->validates()){
// do stuff with valid data
}
If you really, really can't use a model, then you'll have to simply loop over each value in $this->data in your controller action and validate it against a regular expression or use the Validation::[rule]() stuff, like:
if(Validation::email($someThingThatMightBeAnEmailAddress)){
// do stuff with valid email address.
}
You can perform validation of form data in CakePHP without having to create a model.php file. There are many times when I need to do this, and storing model.php files that do nothing more then validation is a poor usage of the model design pattern.
Another problem with CakePHP is that sometimes validation rules are common across multiple models. It would be nice to move validation out of the model, much in the way behaviors are to their own subfolder. That way we can re-use them or use them without a model.
Another problem with validation is that it's dependent upon the model alias. If you have a model called "Email" without a table to perform validation, then the posted form must also use "Email". If the form uses a alias different from the controller, then you have to set the action. A lot of extra steps just to do validation. You can't re-use that model again if your form uses a different model.
So here is my alternative approach.
In your controller's action that receives the posted form data. You can create a default CakePHP model, add some validation rules and then use that model for validation.
An example action might look like this;
function edit()
{
$model = ClassRegistry::init(array('class'=>'Email','table'=>false,'type'=>'Model'));
if(!empty($this->data))
{
$model->validate = array(
'subject'=>array(
'rule'=>'notEmpty',
'required'=>true
),
'message'=>array(
'rule'=>'notEmpty',
'required'=>true
)
);
if($model->save($this->data))
{
// validation was successful, but no data was actually saved
}
}
}
The key here is the creation of an automatic model by CakePHP.
$model = ClassRegistry::init(array('class'=>'Email','table'=>false,'type'=>'Model'));
The above attempts to find a model by Email in the applications model folder. When it is not found CakePHP will auto-create an in memory model for that class. Since we set the value of 'table' to false, then this should tell CakePHP that this model doesn't use a table.
This works as long as there really isn't a email.php file in the applications model folder. Once this model is created in memory. It's accessible from the built in Form help. That means validation errors will be passed correctly to the view.
Here is an example view file.
<?php echo $this->Form->create('Email',array('action'=>array('controller'=>'mycontroller','action'=>'edit'))); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->input('subject'); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->input('message',array('type'=>'textarea')); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->submit(); ?>
The view will now render the validation errors from the Email model using the Form helper. This is because CakePHP class registry has saved a copy of the EMail auto model in memory that the Form helper will access.
If you want to use custom validation rules, then you will have to put the callback methods in the app_model.php file.
These methods tested in CakePHP 1.3
#ThinkingMedia's answer got me going in the right direction, but $model->save($this->data) was returning false for me unfortunately, even when the form was valid. I'm using CakePHP 2.3.9 for reference.
It turned out that even with 'table' => false parameter set, the returned$success of save() was based on a $count > 0 of the rows that were created/updated/modified. In my table-less case, this meant a $count of 0 and $success was false. I ended up blending the referenced answer with this similar question's solution to have validation work properly without a model file:
function edit()
{
$model = ClassRegistry::init(array('class'=>'YourFormName','table'=>false,'type'=>'Model'));
if($this->request-is('post'))
{
$model->validate = array(
'some_field'=>array(
'rule'=>'notEmpty',
'required'=>true
),
'another_field'=>array(
'rule'=>'notEmpty',
'required'=>true
)
);
$model->set($this->request->data)
if($model->validates($this->request->data) && empty($model->validationErrors))
{
// validation was successful, but no data was actually saved
}
}
}
Came across this question since I also had a similar issue. I have a form that needs to collect data and generate a PDF. So there is no data saving involved nor there is a maching model class. The PDF is a user contract and the user will fill the online form and the data filled will be used to generate the PDF which they must print and mail back. But I need to validate whether the fields are not empty, whether email is really an email format, and date inputs are really date inputs.
First I did without a model class then saw this quesion. Now I'm using a dummy model class to have my validations put in there since the code in controller action looks much neat.
Class Validation which is a subclass of Object is used by model class to perform validation against validation rules specified in it.
One can directly instantiate Validation class inside any controller or model and use its methods for performing validation on any data, not only inputs from forms.
I think my first question would be this: if you don't have a model...what are you validating? Typically data collection would be done to populate a model. If you're using an alternative data repository (file, web services, etc.), a model would still be the appropriate way to access and manipulate that data.
In short, in order to better answer this, I think a little more context would be helpful and maybe even necessary.