Trying to build upvote system in cakephp - php

Question

I am trying to build an upvote system in cakephp but I am having some trouble and am ending up with unidentified index errors and array to string conversion.
This is my function in my PostsController:
public function like ($id=null, $like=NULL) {
if(!$id) {throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid post'));
}
$post = $this -> Post-> findById($id);
$like = $this->Like->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array('username' =>
array($this->Auth->user('username')))
));
if(!$post) {throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid post'));
}
$this -> set('post',$post);
$this -> set('like', $like);
if ($like['Like']['username'] == $post['Post']['username'] && $like['Like']['article_id'] == $post['Post']['id']){
$this->redirect(array('action'=>'index'));
}
else{
$this->Like->saveField('username', $this->Auth->user('username'));
$this->Like->saveField('article_id', $post);
$this->redirect(array('action'=>'index'));
}
}
At the top of my controller I do var $uses = array('Post','Like'); So my PostsController knows to use the Like model too. Now I know what problem is, I just don't know how to fix it. When I set the fields, username gets set in the DB, but $post returns an array of all posts. What I want to happen is for it to only return the current post I am on. This is what I am doing in my view:
<?php echo $this->Html->link(
'Like',
array('action'=>'Like',$post['Post']['id']));
?>
And this is the action that goes with that view:
public function view ($id=null) {
if(!$id) {throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid post'));
}
$post = $this -> Post-> findById($id);
if(!$post) {
throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid post'));
}
$this -> set('post',$post);
}
How can I get my link function to only return the current post I want to like and not an array of all the posts?
EDIT - Forgot to mention I'm getting an Undefined index: Like error on the 13th line of my posts controller.

Answer 1

You have
$like = $this->Like->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array('username' =>
array($this->Auth->user('username')))
));
This will give an array with more items, so you cannot use $like['Like']. This is why you are getting the warning.
You could use $like[0]['Like'].
If you need to go through each of the likes, you can do
foreach ($like as $currentLike) {
if ($currentLike['Like']['username'] == $post['Post']['username'] ....
}
Please include more details about why you are making these comparisons and redirects, and maybe more of the code can be refactored.