Default Fields and values in MongoDB, using cakePHP - php

Question

I am building an application with cakephp 2.1 and mongodb 2.03 , I am using ishikaway's mongodb datasource
I need to set some default values that would be added to a model , I am doing it like so
<?php
class DynamicFormResponse extends AppModel{
public $useDbConfig = 'mongodb';
public $useTable = 'dynamicFormsResponse';
public $primaryKey = '_id';
public $validate=array();
public $mongoschema = array(
'created' => array('type' => 'datetime'),
'modified' => array('type' => 'datetime'),
'escalation'=>array(
'type'=>"integrer",
"default"=>0
),
"status"=>array(
"type"=>"string",
"default"=>"pending"
),
);
public function setSchema($schema) {
$this->_schema=$schema;
}
public function getSchema(){
return $this->_schema;
}
}
Obviously I cannot set default values directly in MongoDb like MySQL, and obviously since I am asking the question the above method is not working.
Any suggestions on how I can solve this ?
Ps:
This did not help CakePHP - Set Default Field Values in the Model
The documentation is not clear either
Full code available here
EDIT:
I have currently solved this problem by committing an MVC sin,
I am adding the default values in the controller before saving the data with the model
<?php
class DynamicFormResponse extends AppModel {
public $name="DynamicFormResponse";
public $useDbConfig = 'mongodb';
public $useTable = 'dynamicFormResponse';
public $primaryKey = '_id';
public $validate = array();
public function getDefaults(){
$defaultValues=array(
"escalation"=>0,
"status"=>"pending",
"department_id"=>NULL,
"user_agent"=>env("HTTP_USER_AGENT")
);
return $defaultValues;
}
...
...
class DynamicFormsController extends AppController {
...
...
public function getForm($id=null){
...
...
/**
* Set defaults values
*/
foreach ($this->DynamicFormResponse->getDefaults() as $fieldName => $defaultValue) {
if (empty($this-> request-> data[$this-> DynamicFormResponse -> alias][$fieldName]))
$this->request->data[$this-> DynamicFormResponse -> alias][$fieldName] = $defaultValue;
}
/**
* Data Validation
*/
if($this->DynamicFormResponse->save($this->request->data) == true ){
$this->set("ticket_id", $this->DynamicFormResponse->id);
$this->render('ticket_successfully_saved');
return;
}
Is there a better solution ? because that seems like a bad way to do it .

Answer 1

it's not really a mongoDB question but anyways, i suggest you to merge your userdata with your default values in beforeSave().
We declare default values in each Model like this:
public $defaultValues = array(
'report' => 't',
'reportinterval' => '7',
'type' => '0'
);
And merge it in beforeSave():
/**
* Extends beforeSave() to add default values
*
* #param array $options
* #return bool
*/
public function beforeSave($options = array()) {
// Add default values if not set already
foreach ($this->defaultValues as $fieldName => $defaultValue) {
if (empty($this->data[$this->alias][$fieldName]))
$this->data[$this->alias][$fieldName] = $defaultValue;
}
return parent::beforeSave($options);
}