cakephp getting value of textfield in model - php

Question

Hi I have dynamically added input fields on my add view. When I submit my form I want all them input fields to be concatenated into one string and stored in a single database field.
Im trying to achieve this using the beforeSave method of cakephp but I can't seem to find out how to get the values of a text field within the Model.
function beforeSave($options)
{
$result = '';
$bool = true;
$counter = 0;
while($bool == true)
{
$result = $result + ',' + $this->data['Variable']['selectOptions' + counter];
}
return true;
}
Anyone any ideas on how to achieve this?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

In my opinion (from MVC point of view) it would be better to concatenate the fields in controller and then unset unnecessary fields before saving the model...

Answer 2

after get the post values in model you can merge the array values into a single variable like this..
<?php
$var = array('test1','test2','test3','test4','test5','test6');
$new_values = implode(',',$var);
echo $new_values;
?>
You can retrieve these values after saving to database.

Answer 3

this might not be the perfect answer but might give you some head start in that direction
function beforeSave($options = array()) {
pr($this->data); // <= show data you intend to save
exit;
}
use foreach to loop the data array ($this->data) and perform concatenation on the values and assign the concatenated string to the feild name
function beforeSave($options = array()) {
foreach ($this->data['Variable'] as $key=>$value)
{
$feildflag = strstr($key, 'selectOptions');
if($feildflag){
$concatenatedstring .= $value;
}
}
$this->data['Variable']['your_feild_name'] = $concatenatedstring ;
}

Answer 4

Your dynamic form field should looks like in a foreach loop:
<?php echo $this->Form->input('Model.field][', array());
In your model:
function beforeSave($options)
{
if(!empty($this->data))
{
$this->data['Model']['common_field'] = implode(",", $this->data['Model'['field'];
unset($this->data['Model']['field']);
}
}