laravel 4 Input::old() is empty - php

Question

I'm using Laravel 4 for a project, but got an issue. I'm not sure, what i'm doing wrong.
Details:
Form is posted to the controller's save function.
When validation fails, i'm redirecting to the create function
After redirect (using Redirect::to(somewhere)->withErrors($validator)->withInput()):
Validation errors are being displayed correctly (if any)
Input::old() is empty (it should contain previously submitted data)
Create function in controller
public function create()
{
$this->scripts[] = 'various js path here';
return View::make('admin.modules.events.create', array(
// Loading various scripts specified in this function
'scripts' => $this->scripts,
));
}
In the view:
...
{{ Form::bsInput('event_name', 'Event title', 'event title goes here', $error = (($errors->has('event_name')) ? $errors->get('event_name') : false), $type = 'text', Input::old('event_name')) }}
...
Note: bsInput is a wrapper around Form::Input() to create bootstrap controls together with labels
Controller:
public function save()
{
if (Input::has('submitEventSave'))
{
$event = Mihirevent::find(Input::get(event_id));
$event_add = false;
}
else
{
$event = new Mihirevent();
$event_add = true;
}
if ($event === false)
{
// doing something else
}
else
{
$event->event_name = Input::get('event_name');
$event->event_slug = Input::get('event_slug');
$event->event_description = Input::get('event_description');
$event->event_location_text = Input::get('event_location_text');
$event->event_location_data = Input::get('event_location_data');
$event->event_status = Input::get('event_status');
$event->featured_image = Input::get('featured_image');
$event->event_date_from = Input::get('event_date_from');
$event->event_date_until = Input::get('event_date_until');
$validation_rules = $event_add === true?$event->rules:$event->update_rules;
$inputs = array(
'event_name' => $event->event_name,
'event_slug' => $event->event_slug,
'event_location_text' => $event->event_location_text,
);
$validator = Validator::make($inputs, $validation_rules);
if ($validator->fails())
{
Input::flash();
if ($event_add === true)
{
return Redirect::to('admin/event/create')
->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
}
else
{
return Redirect::to('admin/event/edit/'.$event->event_id)
->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
}
}
// save
MihirEvent::save();
// redirect to list
return Redirect::route('adminEvent');
}
}
Update:
bsInput macro:
Form::macro('bsInput', function($name, $text, $placeholder = null, $error = false, $type = 'text', $default = null, $class=null)
{
$label = Form::label($name, $text, array('class' => 'control-label'));
$input = Form::input($type, $name, $default, array('placeholder' => $placeholder, 'class' => 'form-control'.($class?' '.$class:'')));
$error_messages = false;
if($error)
{
$error_messages = '<ol>';
foreach ($error as $value) {
$error_messages .= '<li>'.$value.'</li>';
}
$error_messages .= '</ol>';
}
$html = '<div class="form-group'.(($error) ? ' has-error' : '').'">';
$html .= $label;
$html .= $input;
$html .= (($error_messages) ? '<div class="alert alert-danger">'.$error_messages.'</div>' : '');
$html .= '</div>';
return $html;
});

Answer 1

Looking at the Laravel 4 source:
/**
* Flash an array of input to the session.
*
* #param array $input
* #return \Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse
*/
public function withInput(array $input = null)
{
$input = $input ?: $this->request->input();
$this->session->flashInput($input);
return $this;
}
It looks like if you don't pass an array of Input with ->withInput it tries to pull it from the original request. Try modifying the line like so:
if ($event_add === true)
{
return Redirect::to('admin/event/create')
->withErrors($validator)->withInput(Input::all());
}
else
{
return Redirect::to('admin/event/edit/'.$event->event_id)
->withErrors($validator)->withInput(Input::all());
}
This should hopefully force it to pass the array of input values, instead of relying on the
'$this->request->input()'
still existing in the session.

Answer 2

You are doing Input::flash() and then withInput(), which effectively does Input::flash() twice, probably invalidating the flashed input. Try only doing one of the two.
Also, MihirEvent::save(); is wrong, you want to do $event->save();.

Answer 3

Finally i found the issue: There was a leading space in the routes.php file, before the <?php opening tag. (was working on a team and someone else added that space).