Simple Acl Controlled Application - Not allowing me to add new user - php

Question

I'm new to CakePHP and I'm trying to implement the Simple Acl Controlled Application tutorial, and I've reached the part where you try to add new users and groups..
I successfully added the groups but when i try and add new users I receive the "The user could not be saved. Please, try again." Part of the function.
public function add() {
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$this->User->create();
if ($this->User->save($this->request->data)) {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The user has been saved'));
$this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The user could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
}
}
}
I noticed that the form tries to create a drop down box of all the different groups that I created but the drop box is empty and I have created three different groups (Admin, Responder and Volunteer).
Here is a copy of the add user view..
<div class="users form">
<?php echo $this->Form->create('User'); ?>
<fieldset>
<legend><?php echo __('Add User'); ?></legend>
<?php
echo $this->Form->input('id');
echo $this->Form->input('username');
echo $this->Form->input('password');
echo $this->Form->input('group_id');
?>
</fieldset>
<?php echo $this->Form->end(__('Submit')); ?>
</div>
<div class="actions">
<h3><?php echo __('Actions'); ?></h3>
<ul>
<li><?php echo $this->Html->link(__('List Users'), array('action' => 'index')); ?></li>
</ul>
</div>
Model as requested:
<?php
App::uses('AppModel', 'Model');
App::uses('AuthComponent', 'Controller/Component');
class User extends AppModel {
public $belongsTo = array('Group');
public $actsAs = array('Acl' => array('type' => 'requester'));
public function parentNode() {
if (!$this->id && empty($this->data)) {
return null;
}
if (isset($this->data['User']['group_id'])) {
$groupId = $this->data['User']['group_id'];
} else {
$groupId = $this->field('group_id');
}
if (!$groupId) {
return null;
} else {
return array('Group' => array('id' => $groupId));
}
}
public $primaryKey = 'id';
public $validate = array(
'id' => array(
'numeric' => array(
'rule' => array('numeric'),
),
),
'username' => array(
'notempty' => array(
'rule' => array('notempty'),
),
),
'password' => array(
'notempty' => array(
'rule' => array('notempty'),
),
),
'group_id' => array(
'numeric' => array(
'rule' => array('numeric'),
),
),
);
//The Associations below have been created with all possible keys, those that are not needed can be removed
//old belongs to
// public $belongsTo = array(
// 'Group' => array(
// 'className' => 'Group',
// 'foreignKey' => 'group_id',
// 'conditions' => '',
// 'fields' => '',
// 'order' => ''
// )
// );
public $hasMany = array(
'Post' => array(
'className' => 'Post',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'dependent' => false,
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => '',
'limit' => '',
'offset' => '',
'exclusive' => '',
'finderQuery' => '',
'counterQuery' => ''
)
);
public function beforeSave($options = array()) {
$this->data['User']['password'] = AuthComponent::password($this->data['User']['password']);
return true;
}
}
Debug message:
array(
'User' => array(
'password' => '*****',
'id' => '',
'username' => 'iwanjones'
)
)
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

In the form within your view, you create the id field as an input field (although through Cake's automagic it should convert it to a hidden input). When creating a new user, there is no id yet. It will be determined upon saving (creating) the record. In most applications this will be done by the MySQL backend's AUTO_INCREMENT functionality, which picks the first available "free" id.
In case of adding a new user, the id field is therefor not necessary. You only need it when you want to edit an existing user and make sure Cake edits the proper user, by setting it's id.
At this moment you set the id field in your view, but it gets no value, since it's a new user. In your Model you have added a validation rule that requires the id field to be numeric. But, the value is actually empty. You should do two things to get this working:
Drop the echo $this->Form->input('id'); line from the add view.
Remove the validation rule for the id field from your model (it's pretty uncommon to validate your primary key field, as Cake already handles this the proper way).
This should allow for the user to be saved successfully.