Codeigniter: One view for adding and editing a post - php

Question

I'm working on a CMS in Codeigniter and one main part is a form for creating and editing posts.
I've been planning on using the same view file for both since all of the elements are shared. The only difference would be the form is blank when creating and it's populated when being edited. Is this the right way to go?
I was thinking about having a method for each, so post/create and post/edit($id).
In the create method in the post controller I have all the form data like this (for errors):
$this->data['item_title'] = array(
'name' => 'item_title',
'id' => 'item_title',
'type' => 'text',
'value' => $this->form_validation->set_value('item_title'),
);
I'm thinking about just altering the value to hold the database value instead of set_value(), so something like:
public function edit($id) {
$post_data = $this->post_model->get_post_data($id)
$this->data['item_title'] = array(
'name' => 'item_title',
'id' => 'item_title',
'type' => 'text',
'value' => $post_data['post_title'],
);
}
Am I on the right track or is there a better way to approach this? Should I just use 2 views?

Answer 1

i use a partial _form.php that is shared by a new and edit controller action. on both actions i have the same validations so i moved those to the controller constructor, then for each input i just use a ternary operator that says if the existing value $title is provided then populate the <input> value using it, otherwise use the codeigniter set_value() helper to populate with the validation value.
<input type="text" name="title" value="<?php echo isset($title) ? set_value("title", $title) : set_value("title"); ?>" />

Answer 2

I usually use one view with a few variables in it. The values of the fields can either be set from the data from the server or they can be left blank. Depending on whether data is being provided or not I change which action the form will use because it may be adding or editing.
This should be the most efficient method since it uses the idea of reusability :)
A quick example
<form action="<?php echo !$data ? "admin/add" : "admin/edit" ?> method="post">
<input type="text name="test" value="<?php echo $data['test'] ? $data['test'] : "" ?>" />
</form>

Answer 3

I'm not pro at CodeIgniter (much better at CakePHP) but in the heart of MVC is that one action has one view.
You have no reason to put it in one view. :)

Answer 4

It's certainly possible, as I do it all of the time.
Normally, I would have:
Action
function edit($PageID = -1)
{
$Page = new stdClass();
if($PageID === -1)
{
$Page->Title = $Page->Description = $Page->Keywords = '';
$Page->PageID = -1;
}
else
{
$this->load->model('page_model');
$Page = $this->page_model->GetByPageID($PageID);
if(empty($Page))
{
show_404();
return;
}
}
if($this->input->post('Save', true) !== false)
{
// perform validation
if($PageID === -1)
{
// insert
}
else
{
// update
}
}
$data = array
(
'Page' => $Page
);
$this->load->view('edit_page', $data);
}
View
<?= form_open(); ?>
<fieldset>
<label for="title">Title: </label>
<input type="text" name="title" id="title" value="<?= Form::Get('title', $Page->Title); ?>" />
<br />
<label for="description">Description: </label>
<input type="text" name="description" id="description" value="<?= Form::Get('description', $Page->Description); ?>" />
<br />
<label for="keywords">Keywords: </label>
<input type="text" name="keywords" id="keywords" value="<?= Form::Get('keywords', $Page->Keywords); ?>" />
<br />
<input type="submit" name="Save" value="Save" />
</fieldset>
</form>
Edit
Sorry, I should have mentioned, Form::Get is not a CodeIgniter function, but one I have created. Simply, it takes the path to the Post value you need to read. If it doesn't exist, i.e. you haven't posted, then it will simply display the value from the second parameter.
If I can dig the code out for you, I will post it.