I am wondering how I can implement this the best way:
I have a site where a user can make a post, he has 2 checkboxes there for "resumes" and "more documents". Those two are not required, but when they are I need to save a "true" in the database in the column for this.
I thought I could implement it by writing if loops, like:
if both are present this code:
Post::create([ 'resumee' => true, 'more_docs' => true,]);
If only resume is present like this:
Post::create(['resumee' => true, 'more_docs' => false]);
and if only more_docs is present then the other way around.
however I figured there would be a way better approach to implement this, but I am fairly new to laravel so I cant think about any.
My first guess was to do something like this inside the create statement:
Post::create([
'resumee' => true,
if($request->has(more_docs)
'more_docs' => true,
else ....
]);
But all I got were red lines haha. So maybe someone of you more experienced guys have an idea, any help appreciated!
You can use something like this:
Product::create([
// ... other fields
'resumee' => $request->filled('resumee'),
'more_docs' => $request->filled('more_docs'),
]);
If you would like to determine if a value is present on the request and is not empty, you may use the filled method. I think this mthod will more appropriate for your task.
Related
I have a classical index page with a form where I can filter my records.
One of my fields is year. Let's say that I want the records to be pre-filtered by current year when the user first visit the page (i.e. when the query string is empty)
what have I done:
in my controller I did something like this
if(empty($this->request->query))
{
$this->request->query['year'] = date('Y');
}
and then with the help of friendsofcake/search plugig:
$this->MyTable->find('search', [
'search' => $this->request->getQuery()
]);
In this way the records are filtered and the form is pre compiled with the current year since in my view I have
'valueSources' => 'query'
Now with cake 3.6 direct modification of the query is deprecated (see this issue I opened). In fact I get deprecation warnings when I try to change the query array.
My question:
So I want to know what is the best way to achieve the same behavior without getting warnings. I would also like to know if and why my approach is wrong.
In controller:
$searchValues = $this->request->getQueryParams() ?: ['year' => date('Y')];
$this->MyTable->find('search', [
'search' => $searchValues
]);
$this->set(compact('searchValues'));
In template:
$this->Form->create(['schema' => [], 'defaults' => $searchValues]);
Ideally you would also set proper values in schema as shown here https://api.cakephp.org/3.6/class-Cake.View.Form.ArrayContext.html
Try something like this (not tested):
$this->setRequest($this->getRequest()->withQueryParams([
'year' => date('Y'),
]);
I got stuck with this stupid error messages in Zend Framework 2. Spent two hours and nothing, I still got two different error messages with NotEmpty validator.
$nameNotEmptyMessage = 'Pole wymagane';
$inputFilter->add(array(
'name' => 'name',
'required' => true,
'filters' => array(
new Filter\StringTrim()
),
'validators' => array(
new Validator\NotEmpty(array(
'messages' => array(
Validator\NotEmpty::INVALID => $nameNotEmptyMessage,
Validator\NotEmpty::IS_EMPTY => $nameNotEmptyMessage
)
))
)
));
And what? It works pretty cool when I send form with "name" element inside it. When it's empty, I've got my message. But, when I send form without the "name" element inside it, the message is still "Value is required and can't be empty"! Why?
I need to have in both cases the same message because sometimes the form won't have "name" element.
Thank you guys very much!
Thanks for replying to the comment to clarify the problem. First I must say, I feel your pain on this one. After having not used ZF2 for over a year and spending some time figuring this out, it highlights yet another painful thing in ZF2.
That said, here is my simple solution. Not necessary correct, or the best way to go about it but it solves your problem with the least amount of code. In your controller where you instantiate and validate the form, add this code before you call new Form:
if (!isset($_POST['name'])) {
$this->getRequest()
->setPost(
new \Zend\Stdlib\Parameters(
array('name' => '')
)
);
}
This seemed the simplest route rather than setting up a default validation translator and adding a duplicate message. It is just checking to see if the name field was not present, and if so sets it with any empty value.
Now the reason why we have to do this:
This happens because of how \Zend\InputFilter\Input works. When the InputFilter runs, it sees the element is missing. It then checks the required property, sees it's true but the input has no value. No value being different than empty.
When the filter is required but has no input, \Zend\InputFilter\Input::prepareRequiredValidationFailureMessage is called. If you look at the source of that function, you'll see:
protected function prepareRequiredValidationFailureMessage()
{
$notEmpty = new NotEmpty();
$templates = $notEmpty->getOption('messageTemplates');
return [
NotEmpty::IS_EMPTY => $templates[NotEmpty::IS_EMPTY],
];
}
Notice how it creates a new NotEmpty validator and fetches its default message, thus bypassing the translation you set within the InputFilter.
The alternative:
One alternative, which may be more correct, but also requires more code and could arguably be more confusing looking back later would be to create a new class implementing \Zend\Validator\Translator\TranslatorInterface and set an array with the translation for that message and then calling \Zend\Validator\AbstractValidator::setDefaultTranslator passing that so the default translator will be used on that message.
This is just difficult because there is no short way of setting up that object because of how the classes are inherited and I wasn't able to find a quick solution to set up the default translator with just that message. Also, if you have another translator in place, it might interfere with it.
So it seems the simplest thing is to just check for the absence of that form field and populate it with any empty value if it's missing.
Hope that helps!
Other more simple way to fix this is to overwrite the Form setData($data) and to check if $data['name'] is set. Something like this:
public function setData($data)
{
if(!isset($data['name'])){
$data['name'] = '';
}
return parent::setData($data);
}
For a Web-Application with many Database related events I want to build a Changelog. That should log what users have done, so its a Userlog too.
The App is huge, has a complex role based user access system and there will be hundreds of different events (changes) that may occur.
This all should be Database-Driven, in PHP and needs at least a View to search the Logs.
But in short, I have totally no idea how to design that all and need some tips or inspirations, maybe what others have done.
I've done this in the past and found basically 2 approaches: Model-based and Controller-based.
Model-based within the model itself override the save and update methods (assuming an ActiveRecord pattern) to create a new entry in the ChangeLog table.
Controller-based add the ChangeLog record creation logic to each controller that you want to track.
I prefer the Controller-based approach since you have more control over what's going on and when. Also, you have full access to the user session so it's easier to add tracking for auditing purposes.
Have solved that much more easy as it appears with my first thoughts.
This should do it most times without a comment:
protected function log($comment = ''){
$user = $this->user();
ORM::factory('Changelog')->vaules(array(
'user_id' => $user->pk(),
'section_id' => $user->section->pk(),
'username' => $user->username.'#'.$user->section->name,
'time' => time(),
'uri' => $this->uri($this->request->param(), $this->request->query()),
'controller' => $this->request->controller(),
'action' => $this->request->action(),
'post' => serialize($this->request->post()),
'comment' => $comment,
))->save();
}
A simple $this->log() and all is done.
Result: http://charterix.sourceforge.net/log.jpg
I've done quite a few Lithium tutorials (links below in case they help someone else, and also to show I've done my homework:) and I understand the most basic parts of creating models, views, controllers and using MVC to create a DB record based on form input.
However, I'm new to MVC for webapps and Lithium, and I'm not sure how I should write my code in more complicated situations. This is a general question, but two specific validation questions that I have are:
How should I validate date data submitted from the form?
How should I check that the two user email fields have the same value?
I would be very grateful for any help with these questions, and concrete examples like this will also really help me understand how to do good MVC coding in other situations as well!
Date entry - validating data split across multiple form inputs
For UI reasons, the sign up form asks users to enter their DOB in three fields:
<?=$this->form->field('birthday', array('type' => 'select', 'list' => array(/*...*/))); ?>
<?=$this->form->field('birthmonth', array('type' => 'select', 'list' => array(/*...*/))); ?>
<?=$this->form->field('birthyear', array('type' => 'select', 'list' => array(/*...*/))); ?>
What is the best way to validate this server-side? I think I should take advantage of the automagic validation, but I'm not sure of the best way do that for a set of variables that aren't really part of the Model. E.g.:
Should I post-process the $this->request->data in UsersController? E.g. modify $this->request->data inside UsersController before passing it to Users::create.
Should I pull the form fields out of $this->request->data and use a static call to Validator::isDate inside UsersController?
Is there a way to write a validation rule in the model for combinations of form variables that aren't part of the model?
should I override Users::create and do all the extra validation and post-processing there?
All of these seem like they could work, although some seem a little bit ugly and I don't know which ones could cause major problems for me in the future.
[EDIT: Closely related to this is the problem of combining the three form fields into a single field to be saved in the model]
Email entry - checking two form fields are identical, but only storing one
For common sense/common practice, the sign up form asks users to specify their email address twice:
<?=$this->form->field('email_address'); ?>
<?=$this->form->field('verify_email_address'); ?>
How can I write an automagic validation rule that checks these two form fields have the same value, but only saves email_address to the database?
This feels like it's pretty much the same question as the above one because the list of possible answers that I can think of is the same - so I'm submitting this as one question, but I'd really appreciate your help with both parts, as I think the solution to this one is going to be subtle and different and equally enlightening!
[EDIT: Closely related to this is the problem of not storing verify_email_address into my model and DB]
Some background reading on Lithium
I've read others, but these three tutorials got me to where I am with users and sign up forms now...
Blog tutorial
Extended blog tutorial
MySQL blog tutorial
Some other StackOverflow questions on closely related topics (but not answering it and also not Lithium-specific)
One answer to this question suggests creating a separate controller (and model and...?) - it doesn't feel very "Lithium" to me, and I'm worried it could be fragile/easily buggy as well
This wonderful story convinced me I was right to be worried about putting it in the controller, but I'm not sure what a good solution would be
This one on views makes me think I should put it in the model somehow, but I don't know the best way to do this in Lithium (see my bulleted list under Date Entry above)
And this Scribd presentation asked the question I'm hoping to answer on the last page... whereupon it stopped without answering it!
NB: CakePHP-style answers are fine too. I don't know it, but it's similar and I'm sure I can translate from it if I need to!
I'd recommend doing this in the Model rather than the Controller - that way it happens no matter where you do the save from.
For the date field issue, in your model, override the save() method and handle converting the multiple fields in the data to one date field before calling parent::save to do the actual saving. Any advanced manipulation can happen there.
The technique described in your comment of using a hidden form field to get error messages to display sounds pretty good.
For comparing that two email fields are equal, I'd recommend defining a custom validator. You can do this in your bootstrap using Validator::add.
use lithium\util\Validator;
use InvalidArgumentException;
Validator::add('match', function($value, $format = null, array $options = array()) {
$options += array(
'against' => '',
'values' => array()
);
extract($options);
if (array_key_exists($against, $values)) {
return $values[$against] == $value;
}
return false;
});
Then in your model:
public $validates = array(
"email" => array(
"match",
"message" => "Please re-type your email address.",
"against" => "email2"
)
);
Edit: Per the comments, here's a way to do custom rule validation in a controller:
public function save() {
$entity = MyModel::create($this->request->data);
$rules = array(
"email" => array(
"match",
"message" => "Please re-type your email address.",
"against" => "email2"
)
);
if (!$entity->validates($rules)) {
return compact('entity');
}
// if your model defines a `$_schema` and sets `$_meta = array('locked' => true)`
// then any fields not in the schema will not be saved to the db
// here's another way using the `'whitelist'` param
$blacklist = array('email2', 'some', 'other', 'fields');
$whitelist = array_keys($entity->data());
$whitelist = array_diff($whitelist, $blacklist);
if ($entity->save(null, compact('whitelist'))) {
$this->redirect(
array("Controller::view", "args" => array($entity->_id)),
array('exit' => true)
);
}
return compact('entity');
}
An advantage of setting the data to the entity is that it will be automatically prefilled in your form if there's a validation error.
Okay, so I'm fairly new to CakePHP. This is the setup:
I've got a Model (Reservation), and a controller, (ReservationController).
I'm trying to provide a simple add() functionality.
The request url is: www.example.com/reservations/add/3
Where 3 is the ID of the event this reservation is for.
So far, so good. The problem is, the form is constructed like this:
<h2>Add reservation</h2>
<?php echo $form->create('Reservation');
echo $form->input('first_name');
echo $form->input('last_name');
echo $form->input('email');
echo $form->input('tickets_student'); echo $form->input('tickets_nstudent');
echo $form->end('Add');?>
When I hit the send button, the request URL becomes simply www.example.com/reservations/add/, and the event id is lost.
I've solved it now by grabbing the id in the controller, and make it available to the form:
// make it available for the form
$this->set('event_id', $eventid);
And then, in the form:
$form->create('Reservation',array('url' => array($event_id)));
It works, but it strikes me as a bit ugly. Isn't there an easier way to make sure the form POST action gets made to the current url, instead of the url without the id?
Nik's answer will fail if the website isn't in the server public_html root.
This answer is more solid:
<?php echo $form->create('Reservation',array('url'=>'/reservation/add/'.$data['id']));?>
Following the strictest convention for just a moment, reading a URL like /reservations/add/3 would be, well, confusing. You're calling on the ReservationsController to act on the Reservation model, but passing it an event ID. Calling /reservations/edit/3 is far less confusing, but just as wrong for your situation since the id value, "3", would be assumed to be a reservation identifier.
Essentially, you're making an ambiguous request at best. This is a simple form to create a reservation and that reservation has to be associated with an event. In a "traditional" scenario, the form would allow the user to select an event from some kind of list. After all, the foreign key, probably event_id in this case, is really just another property of a reservation. The list would have to be populated in the controller; this is usually done via a find( 'list' ) call.
If you already know the event that you want to create the reservation against (which you apparently do), then I'd probably select the analogous method of using a hidden field in the form. You still have to set the value in the controller just as you're doing, but the end result is a bit more Cake-y. The hidden field would be named data[Reservation][event_id] (again, I'm assuming the name of your foreign key field).
$form->create('Reservation',array('action' => 'add',$eventId);
and in the controller:
function add($eventId = null)
{
if($eventId == null)
{
// error state
throw new NotFoundException('Invalid id');
}
...
}
I do it all the time.
You can do following:
$form->create('Reservation',array('url' => $this->Html->url()));
this way all your variables from the url will be added in the form action :)
As Rob Wilkerson suggests, the issue is your URL route doesn't accurately describe the operation being performed. It becomes further confusing when you want to edit the reservation: /reservations/edit/6. Now the number in the URL means something different.
The URL convention I use for situations like these (adapted to your particular case) is /events/3/reservations/add. It takes a bit more up-front to configure your routes, but I've found it's superior for clarity down the road.
Sample routes.php:
Router::connect(
'/events/:event_id/reservations/:action',
array('controller'=>'reservations','action'=>'index'),
array(
'pass' => array('event_id'), // pass the event_id as a param to the action
'event_id' => '[0-9]+',
'actions'=>'add|index' // only reverse-routes with 'action'=>'add' or
// 'action'=>'index' will match this route
)
)
// Usage: array('controller'=>'reservations','action'=>'add','event_id'=>3)
Router::connect(
'/events/:event_id/reservations/:id/:action',
array('controller'=>'reservations'),
array(
'pass' => array('id'), // pass the reservation id as a param to the action
'id' => '[0-9]+',
'event_id' => '[0-9]+',
'actions'=>'edit|delete' // only reverse-routes with 'action'=>'edit' or
// 'action'=>'delete' will match this route
)
)
// Usage: array('controller'=>'reservations','action'=>'edit','event_id'=>3,'id'=>6)
In your FormHelper::create call, you'd have to specify most of the reverse-route you want to follow, but again, the up-front cost will pay dividends in the future. It's usually better to be explicit with Cake than to hope its automagic always works correctly, especially as the complexity of your application increases.