Yii Framework: Empty variables after form validation fails - php

Question

I have a form with two input text fields:
<input id="ModelName_test_0" name="ModelName[test][0]" type="text">
<input id="ModelName_test_1" name="ModelName[test][1]" type="text">
These input fields get generated with the following commands:
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'test[0]'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'test[1]'); ?>
Now, when I submit the form I see the values in the POST request. However, when the form submit fails then I can not get the values back into the input fields. Printing the model it shows that there are no values for $test; - is this because $test is an array in the form?
Even after the validation all values are still assigned to the variables:
if($model->validate()) {
echo "<pre>";
print_r($_POST);
return;
}
This returns:
[ModelName] => Array
(
[test] => Array
(
[0] => myFirstInputField
[1] => mySecondInputField
)
)
So the values are in the POST but after the failed validation they are gone and I get empty variables:
[ModelName] => Array
(
[test] =>
)
The variable test is declared safe in the validation rules.
What I want to achieve is:
If the validation fails put the entered values back into the appropriate input text fields.
Any pointers in the right direction would be helpful :)

Answer 1

The problem is, that CHtml::activeTextField expects a model and one of its attributes as parameters. If the attribute is named test then have $form->textField($model,'test');. After your form is submitted, either test doesn't have any values or it is an array (check this to confirm, either echoing it's value or doing a print_r on $model->attributes).

Answer 2

I found this article on the yiiframework.com website which helped me solving this issue: http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/1.1/en/form.table
This is the sample code which you would put it your controller:
public function actionBatchUpdate()
{
// retrieve items to be updated in a batch mode
// assuming each item is of model class 'Item'
$items=$this->getItemsToUpdate();
if(isset($_POST['Item']))
{
$valid=true;
foreach($items as $i=>$item)
{
if(isset($_POST['Item'][$i]))
$item->attributes=$_POST['Item'][$i];
$valid=$item->validate() && $valid;
}
if($valid) // all items are valid
// ...do something here
}
// displays the view to collect tabular input
$this->render('batchUpdate',array('items'=>$items));
}
And this is what the view would look like:
<div class="form">
<?php echo CHtml::beginForm(); ?>
<table>
<tr><th>Name</th><th>Price</th><th>Count</th><th>Description</th></tr>
<?php foreach($items as $i=>$item): ?>
<tr>
<td><?php echo CHtml::activeTextField($item,"[$i]name"); ?></td>
<td><?php echo CHtml::activeTextField($item,"[$i]price"); ?></td>
<td><?php echo CHtml::activeTextField($item,"[$i]count"); ?></td>
<td><?php echo CHtml::activeTextArea($item,"[$i]description"); ?></td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</table>
<?php echo CHtml::submitButton('Save'); ?>
<?php echo CHtml::endForm(); ?>
</div><!-- form -->
Both code snippets are taken from yiiframework.com where you can find more details on how to use 'Tabular Inputs': http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/1.1/en/form.table