Retrieve data from zend form - php

Question

I'm a Zend Framework newbie and I'm trying to retrieve some values to update the database. I have the following code in the controller. Populating the form works just fine, as does updating the db with some hard-coded values. My problem lies in trying to retrieve an updated value from the form, see the $first_name variable. It gives me a fatal error.
My question: How do I retrieve an updated value from the form?
public function editAction() {
$view = $this->view;
//get the application
$application_id = $this->getRequest()->getParam('id');
$application = $this->getApplication($application_id);
//get the applicant
$applicant_id = $application->applicant_id;
$applicant = $this->getApplicant($applicant_id);
if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
if ($this->getRequest()->getPost('Save')) {
$applicants_table = new Applicants();
$first_name = $form->getValue('applicant_first_name');
$update_data = array ('first_name' => 'NewFirstName',
'last_name' => 'NewLastName');
$where = array('applicant_id = ?' => 16);
$applicants_table->update($update_data, $where);
}
$url = 'applications/list';
$this->_redirect($url);
} else { //populate the form
//applicant data
$applicant_data = array();
$applicant_array = $applicant->toArray();
foreach ($applicant_array as $field => $value) {
$applicant_data['applicant_'.$field] = $value;
}
$form = new FormEdit();
$form->populate($applicant_data);
$this->view->form = $form;
}
}

Answer 1

First off, your example has a problem here:
$first_name = $form->getValue('applicant_first_name');
...your $form isn't created yet, thus the fatal error; you are calling getValue() on a non-object.
Once you get that squared away, you can populate the form with posted data by calling the isValid method on the $form with request data. Here's a quick example:
// setup $application_data
$form = new FormEdit();
$form->populate($applicant_data);
if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
if ($form->isValid($this->getRequest()->getPost())) {
$first_name = $form->getValue('applicant_first_name');
// save data to the database ...
}
}