I'm building a simple form having a one-to-many relation from an User entity :
User 1..* actions
So basically, in my user form, i have to set the actions property to the collection form type.
I don't want the client to be able to add multiple actions within the form, but only one when editing the user.
The problem is that Symfony 2 form expect to get all the actions from the form on submit, so existing actions are removed from database on flush and only the new one remain.
Any idea ?
If your entity User has an array of Actions, and you create a form type UserType with data_class => User, Symfony expects you to add to that form a collection field for actions, because that's what the entity has.
That's the way Symfony works. Personally I don't like this tight coupling between entities in the model and forms, but it works pretty well for simple apps.
If you want to have a form type that does not match any entity, things won't be so simple, but you'll have more control of things.
You have some options (as far as I know, maybe there're other):
You can move to a task-based UI, by creating another class that represents the data you need to perform an action - in your case you want to edit an user, so you can create a EditUserCommand, which contains 1 and only 1 Action, as long as other fields, most of them probably exactly the same as your User class.
Now you can map your form to this EditUserCommand class, which will contain only 1 action as you want. Obviously later you need to use this command class to get the data you need to edit the user.
Use the empty_data option with a closure that receives the submitted FormInterface, so that you can get the submitted data from there and use it as you want to update the user.
In both options you're breaking the coupling between your User class and your EditUserType form, which means you need to do some more work, but imo it has many benefits.
You can find further reading on this subject here.
I am using the MVC concept (as per http://r.je/view-helpers.html) in my PHP project:
Controller - processes user interaction;
View - displays any data and or fields;
Model - handles all business logic, including access to data access objects.
A front controller is instantiating the MVC triads. In this structure I need the View to display html select option lists that are populated from the database, along with any user fields the various domain objects require data from. I hope this is clear.
My question is: the View cannot ask the database for the data to populate the select option list, so what is the generic application flow to "pass" the View the required form data to correctly populate the required select option list?
NOTE: The View currently gets user data (in a Request object) from the Model, and any validation errors the View has asked the Model for.
I am building a simple user registration form using the MVC design pattern, in PHP.
Can someone please advise if I have selected the correct areas for code implementation, as after some fair amount of reading I understand people often interpret the docs in different ways.
I understand there may be no wright / wrong answer here, but am just trying to get some feedback on how the majority would implement it.
Many thanks.
Model
Function containing PDO mysql insert query
View
HTML form markup with PHP self action and controller include
Controller
Data validation and php include of model function
yup there are different approaches to MVC... your concepts look correct except for the view which should not contain the controller include. It is the controller that includes the model and view. Furthermore, i would have put validations in the model itself.
Model : validation functions(return true or false if error) and insert query
View : html form only with data passed from controller
Controller: main entry point/file (e.g. registration.php)
The controller is the entry point which is where you include your view and model.
Basically in the controller,
you check if form is submitted or not.
If not submitted, display the view (i.e. the form)
if data submitted, do validation using model's validation functions.
If validation ok, execute sql in your model and redirect to success page or display a success message.
If validation is not correct, display your view and fill in your form with the submitted data.
But as i said, there are different approaches to MVC; e.g. you can do all validations in the controller itself instead of the model like you proposed.
In my data model, I've got a field that should be admin-editable only. Normal users can edit records in the model and view this specific field, but they should not be able to edit it. Is there a simple/clean approach to do this? I guess that it's necessary to create an extra admin_edit controller action, but what's the best way to "lock" a data field in the controller?
It's not necessary to create a new controller action, but you may decide so. Note that you can still use the same view for it using $this->render("edit") see: http://book.cakephp.org/view/428/render
I think you should:
use the same controller action, if that's not confusing for the users and admins
display an input field only if the user is admin, and output the text for other users
check for authorization in the controller
Depending on your setup, this could easily be handled as a validation method in the model. Write a custom function in the model to check if the user has permission.
You could also do it in model with beforeSave(). If the field is there and they don't have permission, remove it.
you can simly check on the admin role in the edit view
if (hasRoleAdmin) {
echo $this->Form->input(...);
}
I have several questions regarding CI application design.
Q. When creating a new form and your using CI's form_helper I'm creating arrays in the controller and passing it to the view/form_input() method. Should I be doing this in the controller, the view, or a separate file?
Q. In my controller, I create a method for my form i.e., new_user() and in my view/form_open() I specify a different method in my controller to handle the action (i.e., add(), edit(), delete() ..etc) & that method handles the validation. This is the way that I perfer; however, I've had a lot of difficulty passing the data around if the validation fails. Any suggestions?
Q. I have an instance or two that when I perform form validation I need to validate against two $_POST variables. An example would be, on validation I need to query the database to determine if the entered business already exists (based off business name and zip code) then redirect back to the view and persist the post variables. So far I haven't been able to find a way to create a custom callback function to do this because you can only pass in one parameter. The only way that I've been able to get this to work is if validation passes, I then perform the database check and if the business exists I put the $_post in session/flashdata and use redirect to load the view again. The array that defines the form_input attributes calls set_value for that is where it pulls the flashdata for each record in the array.
$data['name'] = array(
'name' => 'name',
'id' => 'name',
'value' => set_value('name', $this->session->flashdata('name')),
'maxlength' => '200',
'size' => '79',
'class' => 'text'
I realize that this really comes down to preferences; however, I'm really wanting to gain some insight on what pitfalls I can expect and how others are designing their applications. I've downloaded sample applications and I've dome a good amount of searching but I really haven't found much discussion. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I'll share my approach using CI
I create Controller as slim as possible. The controller main job will only get parameter through URI, _GET, and _POST. Then controller will pass required parameter to models, and get the result. After that, view file will be loaded and all variables required by the view will be passed.
All process logic, related with database, email sending, etc, is handled in the model. Model will get parameter, do query, process query result if needed, then return an array, resultset, boolean, or integer. Controller that get the returned value pass it directly to view, without reprocessing it.
In view, it will process the variable in order to displaying it. There will be loop to display list of data, get the column field from array then display it as a form default value, etc. View and model often developed in pair, because all needed field in view must be provided by the query in the Model.
The only 'fat' processing in Controller is the form_validation. I have answer it in your other question, how I wrote my form_validation rules and how to use it.
Below is my answers for your question above:
Q. When creating a new form and your
using CI's form_helper I'm creating
arrays in the controller and passing
it to the view/form_input() method.
Should I be doing this in the
controller, the view, or a separate
file?
I rarely using form_helper. This is because most of my view is came from fellow designer or provided by client as the HTML file. I only use form_dropdown because it's allow me to pass options as an array, instead of do foreach. For the other form element, I just use the one presented in the template file.
Q. In my controller, I create a method
for my form i.e., new_user() and in
my view/form_open() I specify a
different method in my controller to
handle the action (i.e., add(),
edit(), delete() ..etc) & that method
handles the validation. This is the
way that I perfer; however, I've had a
lot of difficulty passing the data
around if the validation fails. Any
suggestions?
When I create my application, I often only have 2 main methods in controller. admin is for displaying list and handle delete, and form to display and handle add and edit. Let me give example with a product module.
I will have product controller with these methods:
class Product extends MY_Controller {
function index()
{
//for front page, display list of product
}
function detail()
{
//for front page, display single product detail
//product id is passed as 3rd URI segment
$id = intval($this->uri->rsegment(3));
}
function admin()
{
//for admin, display product list
//receive id in _POST then do delete
//after delete, do redirect to self, best practise
}
function form()
{
//for admin, handle add and edit
$id = intval($this->uri->rsegment(3));
//if id given and product detail data can be loaded, then it in 'edit' mode
//else it in 'add' mode
//after validation success, and insert/update success, redirect to product/admin
}
}
Using this approach, I can avoid duplicate code and can maintain all code to always up to date. Almost all add & edit have same view and form field. In case add & edit form differ (such as edit user, do not allow changing username), by have $mode variable set to either add or edit, I can put simple if and display correct form, validation rules, and call appropriate model metods.
Q. I have an instance or two that when
I perform form validation I need to
validate against two $_POST variables.
An example would be, on validation I
need to query the database to
determine if the entered business
already exists (based off business
name and zip code) then redirect back
to the view and persist the post
variables. So far I haven't been able
to find a way to create a custom
callback function to do this because
you can only pass in one parameter.
The only way that I've been able to
get this to work is if validation
passes, I then perform the database
check and if the business exists I put
the $_post in session/flashdata and
use redirect to load the view again.
The array that defines the form_input
attributes calls set_value for that is
where it pulls the flashdata for each
record in the array.
You can create your own validation rules. To pass more than one parameter, you can open the file system/libraries/Form_validation.php then see the function matches($str, $field) code. Your callback can have more than 1 parameter, and function matches($str, $field) code will show you how to read and use the second parameter.
I hope this will help you in learning and using CI. Waiting great web application from you ;)
Q. When creating a new form and your using CI's form_helper I'm creating arrays in the controller and passing it to the view/form_input() method. Should I be doing this in the controller, the view, or a separate file?
A. Form_Helper should be always use in "view".
Q. In my controller, I create a method for my form i.e., new_user() and in my view/form_open() I specify a different method in my controller to handle the action (i.e., add(), edit(), delete() ..etc) & that method handles the validation. This is the way that I perfer; however, I've had a lot of difficulty passing the data around if the validation fails. Any suggestions?
A. My way is direct add/edit() to a save();, in save() method I do if else for both cases.
Q. I have an instance or two that when I perform form validation I need to validate against two $_POST variables. An example would be, on validation I need to query the database to determine if the entered business already exists (based off business name and zip code) then redirect back to the view and persist the post variables. So far I haven't been able to find a way to create a custom callback function to do this because you can only pass in one parameter. The only way that I've been able to get this to work is if validation passes, I then perform the database check and if the business exists I put the $_post in session/flashdata and use redirect to load the view again. The array that defines the form_input attributes calls set_value for that is where it pulls the flashdata for each record in the array.
A. I recommend u use $this->input->post instant of using $_POST, because CI will help u filter XSS if u enable it.
PHP didn't support is_POST like .NET, what I do is use a textbox as reference
if(isset($_POST('txt_Name')))
{
}
**or**
if($this->input->post('txt_Name'))
{
}
Hope my answer able to help you.