changing object in loop in Datamapper ORM - php

Question

I'm trying to save a long form in Codeigniter's Datamapper. I'm able to save the form if I pass the value like this
$t->brandName = $this->input->post('brandName');
$t->specialNotes = $this->input->post('specialNotes');
$t->name = $this->input->post('name');
Now if I call save method it works
$t->save();
Since the form is big I tried to add object values in foreach
$a = get_object_vars($t);
foreach ($a['stored'] as $k => $val){
$t->$k = $this->input->post("$k");
}
however if I call the $t->save() it doesn't work.

Answer 1

I'm not sure what $a['stored'] represents, but it's nothing that's default in Datamapper.
Why don't you do it the opposite way, looping through the post keys?
foreach ($_POST as $key => $val)
{
$t->$key = $this->input->post($key);
}
$t->save();
Note: Any columns that don't exist will just be ignored by Datamapper.
I actually wrote a Datamapper extension for this:
class DM_Data {
function assign_postdata($object, $fields = NULL)
{
// You can pass a different field array if you want
if ( ! $fields)
{
$fields = $object->validation;
}
foreach ($fields as $k => $data)
{
$rules = isset($data['rules']) ? $data['rules'] : array();
if ( ! isset($_POST[$k])) continue;
// Cast value to INT, usually for an empty string.
if (in_array('integer', $rules))
{
$object->$k = (integer) $_POST[$k];
}
// Do other manipulation here if desired
else
{
$object->$k = $_POST[$k];
}
}
return $object;
}
}
You can use $t->assign_postdata()->save(), and optionally pass an array of fields to update to the function (in the datamapper validation format). However, I forget why I use that... but I removed some of the custom stuff. This should be useful for you if you are doing this a lot. It definitely saves me time.