Edit and save multiple records in cakephp

Question

In my cakephp app I have an Option model.

In my option/index view I display 2 options with inputs and radio button fields. I want to update both of them, but I get a weird behaviour.

The option I alter doesn't get saved and instead a new option is inserted with the new value.

Here is my view

<h2 class='page-title' id='manage-options'>Opzioni</h2>
<?php echo $form->create(null, array('action'=>'index')); ?>
<table>
    <tr>
    <td><?= $options[0]['Option']['name']?></td>
    <td><?= $form->radio(  
                   $options[0]['Option']['id'],  
                 array(  
                   '1' => 'Sì',  
                   '0' => 'No'),  
             array('default'=> $options[0]['Option']['value'], 'legend'=>false) 
 );?>
        </td>
    </tr> 
    <tr>
        <td><?= $options[1]['Option']['name']?></td>
    <td><?= $form->input($options[1]['Option']['id'],array('label'=>false,'value' => $options[1]['Option']['value'] ))?></td>
    </tr>                                    
</table>    
<?php echo $form->submit('Salva'); ?>
<?php echo $form->end(); ?>

And my controller:

function index() {  
 if (!empty($this->data)) { 
  foreach($this->data['Option'] as $id => $value) :
   $this->Option->id = $id;       
   $feedback = $this->Option->read();  
   $this->Option->saveField('value', $value); 
  endforeach;         
  $this->Session->setFlash('Opzioni aggiornate');
 }
 $this->Option->recursive = 0;
 $this->set('options', $this->paginate());
}

Before posting here I spent two hours googling for answers and experimenting. I know about saveAll() and i have tried these solutions:

http://planetcakephp.org/aggregator/items/2172-cakephp-multi-record-forms http://teknoid.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/editing-multiple-records-with-saveall/

I have been tweaking my code to fit these patterns, but I got no results (oscillating between 'not working' and 'not working and I get an extra record'), so I decided to post my original code.

Can you help, indicating the most proper way to do this? Cheeers, Davide

Answer 1

The main problem with your code that I see is that your fields, both the radio and the input, are being built with only an ID value as the first parameter. The correct "cake way" of building a field is having the first parameter be Model.fieldname, in your case I believe it would be $form->input('Option.id', array())?>

If you inspect the html generated by your code you will see the field name is data[id], and it should be data[Option][id] if you want to loop through $this->data['Option'] in your controller.

Try changing your code to include the Model.fieldname as the first parameter and then it should have the data submitted correctly to your controller.

Answer 2

The problem was with the data in the DB. The kind folks on the cakephp IRC channel called my attention to the fact that in most databases ID = 0 equals 'new record'. For some reason I had an option with ID 0, so when updating the underlaying mysql query actually created a new record. Changed the IDs, problem fixed.