cakephp getting value of textfield in model

Question

Hi I have dynamically added input fields on my add view. When I submit my form I want all them input fields to be concatenated into one string and stored in a single database field.

Im trying to achieve this using the beforeSave method of cakephp but I can't seem to find out how to get the values of a text field within the Model.

function beforeSave($options)
{
    $result = '';
    $bool = true;
    $counter = 0;

    while($bool == true)
    {
    $result = $result + ',' + $this->data['Variable']['selectOptions' + counter];
    }

    return true;
}

Anyone any ideas on how to achieve this?

Thanks in advance.

Paste your code please... Though you can get your data in `$this->data` in beforeSave function... — Rikesh, Sep 03 '12 at 11:29
It seems obvious to me, that you should never manipulate data in a Model. You should modify the data in a Controller, before sending it to the model. — Kao, Sep 03 '12 at 11:29
So get the values in the controller stick them into a string and then set a text field in the view with the values and save? — Schokea, Sep 03 '12 at 11:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '12 at 11:36

1

In my opinion (from MVC point of view) it would be better to concatenate the fields in controller and then unset unnecessary fields before saving the model...

answered Sep 03 '12 at 11:36

Greg Motyl

2,478
17
31

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '12 at 11:38

after get the post values in model you can merge the array values into a single variable like this..

<?php 
   $var = array('test1','test2','test3','test4','test5','test6');
   $new_values = implode(',',$var);
   echo $new_values;
?>

You can retrieve these values after saving to database.

Ujwal Abhishek · Answer 3 · 2012-09-03T11:54:16.030

this might not be the perfect answer but might give you some head start in that direction

function beforeSave($options = array()) {

    pr($this->data); // <= show data you intend to save
    exit;
}

use foreach to loop the data array ($this->data) and perform concatenation on the values and assign the concatenated string to the feild name

function beforeSave($options = array()) {
foreach  ($this->data['Variable'] as $key=>$value)
{
$feildflag = strstr($key, 'selectOptions');
if($feildflag){
$concatenatedstring .= $value;
}
}
$this->data['Variable']['your_feild_name'] = $concatenatedstring ;
}

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 03 '12 at 12:43

Your dynamic form field should looks like in a foreach loop:

<?php echo $this->Form->input('Model.field][', array());

In your model:

function beforeSave($options)
{
    if(!empty($this->data))
    {
         $this->data['Model']['common_field'] = implode(",", $this->data['Model'['field'];
         unset($this->data['Model']['field']);
    }  
}

cakephp getting value of textfield in model

4 Answers4