Cakephp: question about saveall() with multiselect - php

Question

I'm wondering what the cleanest way is to implement a cakephp form where 1 control is a multi-select and the rest are text fields or single-selects, and then the data is inserted as multiple rows with a saveall(). So for example a form is selected with these values:
textfield A
value=Foo
mulit-select B
values=US,Mexico,Canada
single=select C
value=10
and so I want to insert these rows into the database with a saveall():
Foo,US,10
Foo,Mexico,10
Foo,Canada,10
Now I know in the add view I can use this format for the input statement:
input('Model.0.field1',...)
but I'm wondering if I can mix that in that same form with inputs formatted like
input('Model.field2',....).
Update:
When I mix and match the single-select and multiple-select controls, the form data gets submitted like this:
Array
(
[Alert] => Array
(
[schedule_id] => 75
[user_id] => 6
[0] => Array
(
[frequency] => Array
(
[0] => WEEKLY
[1] => MONTHLY
)
)
[limit_value] => .03
[limit_adjustment] => 0
[type] => LIMIT
[disabled] => 0
)
)
I tried passing that data into saveall() but it treats it like a single record.
Update2: I think saveAll() requires that the multiple rows of data be formatted like this:
Array
(
[Article] => Array(
[0] => Array
(
[title] => title 1
)
[1] => Array
(
[title] => title 2
)
)
)
So it looks like after the submit I'm going to need some javascript code that will restructure the array.

Answer 1

I have something that works... I'm not sure if it takes full advantage of all of cake's "automagic" capabilities, but I don't think it's too convoluted.
So I just added the following code to my controller's add function:
if (!empty($this->data)) {
//debug($this->data, true);
/* begin custom code */
$multiselect = $this->data['Alert']['entity_id'];
$tmp2 = array();
foreach ($multiselect as $item)
{
$tmp = $this->data['Alert'];
$tmp['entity_id'] = $item;
array_push($tmp2,$tmp);
}
$this->data['Alert'] = $tmp2;
debug($this->data,true);
/* end custom code */
$this->Alert->create();
//restructure data
if ($this->Alert->saveAll($this->data['Alert'])) {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The alert has been saved', true));
//$this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash(__('The alert could not be saved. Please, try again.', true));
}
and that converts my data to this:
Array
(
[Alert] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[schedule_id] => 74
[entity_id] => 1
[user_id] => 6
[frequency] => HOURLY
[limit_value] => .02
[limit_adjustment] => 0
[type] => LIMIT
[disabled] => 1
)
[1] => Array
(
[schedule_id] => 74
[entity_id] => 2
[user_id] => 6
[frequency] => HOURLY
[limit_value] => .02
[limit_adjustment] => 0
[type] => LIMIT
[disabled] => 1
)
)
)