Welcome to the Cookbook

checkbox(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a checkbox form element. This method also generates an associated hidden form input to force the submission of data for the specified field.

<?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done'); ?>

1. <?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done'); ?>

Will output:

<input type="hidden" name="data[User][done]" value="0" id="UserDone_" />
<input type="checkbox" name="data[User][done]" value="1" id="UserDone" />

It is possible to specify the value of the checkbox by using the $options array:

<?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done', array('value' => 555)); ?>

1. <?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done', array('value' => 555)); ?>

Will output:

<input type="hidden" name="data[User][done]" value="0" id="UserDone_" />
<input type="checkbox" name="data[User][done]" value="555" id="UserDone" />

If you don't want the Form helper to create a hidden input:

<?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done', array('hiddenField' => false)); ?>

1. <?php echo $this->Form->checkbox('done', array('hiddenField' => false)); ?>

Will output:

<input type="checkbox" name="data[User][done]" value="1" id="UserDone" />

button(string $title, array $options = array())

Creates an HTML button with the specified title and a default type of "button". Setting $options['type'] will output one of the three possible button types:

1. submit: Same as the $this->Form->submit method - (the default).
2. reset: Creates a form reset button.
3. button: Creates a standard push button.

<?php
echo $this->Form->button('A Button');
echo $this->Form->button('Another Button', array('type'=>'button'));
echo $this->Form->button('Reset the Form', array('type'=>'reset'));
echo $this->Form->button('Submit Form', array('type'=>'submit'));
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->button('A Button');
3. echo $this->Form->button('Another Button', array('type'=>'button'));
4. echo $this->Form->button('Reset the Form', array('type'=>'reset'));
5. echo $this->Form->button('Submit Form', array('type'=>'submit'));
6. ?>

Will output:

<button type="submit">A Button</button>
<button type="button">Another Button</button>
<button type="reset">Reset the Form</button>
<button type="submit">Submit Form</button>

The button input type allows for a special $option attribute called 'escape' which accepts a bool and determines whether to HTML entity encode the $title of the button. Defaults to false.

<?php 
    echo $this->Form->button('Submit Form', array('type'=>'submit','escape'=>true));
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->button('Submit Form', array('type'=>'submit','escape'=>true));
3. ?>

year(string $fieldName, int $minYear, int $maxYear, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with the years from $minYear to $maxYear, with the $selected year selected by default. HTML attributes may be supplied in $attributes. If $attributes['empty'] is false, the select will not include an empty option.

<?php
echo $this->Form->year('purchased',2000,date('Y'));
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->year('purchased',2000,date('Y'));
3. ?>

Will output:

<select name="data[User][purchased][year]" id="UserPurchasedYear">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="2009">2009</option>
<option value="2008">2008</option>
<option value="2007">2007</option>
<option value="2006">2006</option>
<option value="2005">2005</option>
<option value="2004">2004</option>
<option value="2003">2003</option>

<option value="2002">2002</option>
<option value="2001">2001</option>
<option value="2000">2000</option>
</select>

month(string $fieldName, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with month names.

<?php
echo $this->Form->month('mob');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->month('mob');
3. ?>

Will output:

<select name="data[User][mob][month]" id="UserMobMonth">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="01">January</option>
<option value="02">February</option>
<option value="03">March</option>
<option value="04">April</option>
<option value="05">May</option>
<option value="06">June</option>
<option value="07">July</option>
<option value="08">August</option>
<option value="09">September</option>
<option value="10">October</option>
<option value="11">November</option>
<option value="12">December</option>
</select>

You can pass in your own array of months to be used by setting the 'monthNames' attribute, or have months displayed as numbers by passing false. (Note: the default months are internationalized and can be translated using localization.)

<?php
echo $this->Form->month('mob', null, array('monthNames' => false));
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->month('mob', null, array('monthNames' => false));
3. ?>

dateTime($fieldName, $dateFormat = 'DMY', $timeFormat = '12', $selected = null, $attributes = array())

Creates a set of select inputs for date and time. Valid values for $dateformat are ‘DMY’, ‘MDY’, ‘YMD’ or ‘NONE’. Valid values for $timeFormat are ‘12’, ‘24’, and null.

You can specify not to display empty values by setting "array('empty' => false)" in the attributes parameter. You also can pre-select the current datetime by setting $selected = null and $attributes = array("empty" => false).

day(string $fieldName, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with the (numerical) days of the month.

To create an empty option with prompt text of your choosing (e.g. the first option is 'Day'), you can supply the text as the final parameter as follows:

<?php
echo $this->Form->day('created');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->day('created');
3. ?>

Will output:

<select name="data[User][created][day]" id="UserCreatedDay">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="01">1</option>
<option value="02">2</option>
<option value="03">3</option>
...
<option value="31">31</option>
</select>

hour(string $fieldName, boolean $format24Hours, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with the hours of the day.

minute(string $fieldName, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with the minutes of the hour.

One of the possible values for $attributes is called 'interval'. To display an automagic select menu in 15-minute increments, add the following in the attributes array:

$this->Form->minute('example_time_field', null, array('interval' => 15));

1. $this->Form->minute('example_time_field', null, array('interval' => 15));

meridian(string $fieldName, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element populated with ‘am’ and ‘pm’.

error(string $fieldName, mixed $text, array $options)

Shows a validation error message, specified by $text, for the given field, in the event that a validation error has occurred.

Options:

• 'escape' bool Whether or not to html escape the contents of the error.
• 'wrap' mixed Whether or not the error message should be wrapped in a div. If a string, will be used as the HTML tag to use.
• 'class' string The classname for the error message

file(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a file input.

<?php
echo $this->Form->create('User',array('type'=>'file'));
echo $this->Form->file('avatar');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->create('User',array('type'=>'file'));
3. echo $this->Form->file('avatar');
4. ?>

Will output:

<form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" action="/users/add">
<input name="data[User][avatar]" value="" id="UserAvatar" type="file">

hidden(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a hidden form input. Example:

<?php
echo $this->Form->hidden('id');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->hidden('id');
3. ?>

Will output:

<input name="data[User][id]" value="" id="UserId" type="hidden">

isFieldError(string $fieldName)

Returns true if the supplied $fieldName has an active validation error.

<?php
if ($this->Form->isFieldError('gender')){
    echo $this->Form->error('gender');
}
?>

1. <?php
2. if ($this->Form->isFieldError('gender')){
3. echo $this->Form->error('gender');
4. }
5. ?>

label(string $fieldName, string $text, array $attributes)

Creates a label tag, populated with $text.

<?php
echo $this->Form->label('status');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->label('status');
3. ?>

Will output:

<label for="UserStatus">Status</label>

password(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a password field.

<?php
echo $this->Form->password('password');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->password('password');
3. ?>

Will output:

<input name="data[User][password]" value="" id="UserPassword" type="password">

radio(string $fieldName, array $options, array $attributes)

Creates a radio button input. Use $attributes['value'] to set which value should be selected default.

Use $attributes['separator'] to specify HTML in between radio buttons (e.g. <br />).

Radio elements are wrapped with a label and fieldset by default. Set $attributes['legend'] to false to remove them.

<?php
$options=array('M'=>'Male','F'=>'Female');
$attributes=array('legend'=>false);
echo $this->Form->radio('gender',$options,$attributes);
?>

1. <?php
2. $options=array('M'=>'Male','F'=>'Female');
3. $attributes=array('legend'=>false);
4. echo $this->Form->radio('gender',$options,$attributes);
5. ?>

Will output:

<input name="data[User][gender]" id="UserGender_" value="" type="hidden">
<input name="data[User][gender]" id="UserGenderM" value="M" type="radio">
<label for="UserGenderM">Male</label>
<input name="data[User][gender]" id="UserGenderF" value="F" type="radio">
<label for="UserGenderF">Female</label>

If for some reason you don't want the hidden input, setting $attributes['value'] to a selected value or boolean false will do just that.

select(string $fieldName, array $options, mixed $selected, array $attributes)

Creates a select element, populated with the items in $options, with the option specified by $selected shown as selected by default. If you wish to display your own default option, add your string value to the 'empty' key in the $attributes variable, or set it to false to turn off the default empty option

<?php
$options = array('M' => 'Male', 'F' => 'Female');
echo $this->Form->select('gender', $options)
?>

1. <?php
2. $options = array('M' => 'Male', 'F' => 'Female');
3. echo $this->Form->select('gender', $options)
4. ?>

Will output:

<select name="data[User][gender]" id="UserGender">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="M">Male</option>
<option value="F">Female</option>
</select>

The select input type allows for a special $option attribute called 'escape' which accepts a bool and determines whether to HTML entity encode the contents of the select options. Defaults to true.

<?php
$options = array('M' => 'Male', 'F' => 'Female');
echo $this->Form->select('gender', $options, null, array('escape' => false));
?>

1. <?php
2. $options = array('M' => 'Male', 'F' => 'Female');
3. echo $this->Form->select('gender', $options, null, array('escape' => false));
4. ?>

submit(string $caption, array $options)

Creates a submit button with caption $caption. If the supplied $caption is a URL to an image (it contains a ‘.’ character), the submit button will be rendered as an image.

It is enclosed between div tags by default; you can avoid this by declaring $options['div'] = false.

<?php
echo $this->Form->submit();
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->submit();
3. ?>

Will output:

<div class="submit"><input value="Submit" type="submit"></div>

You can also pass a relative or absolute url to an image for the caption parameter instead of caption text.

<?php
echo $this->Form->submit('ok.png');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->submit('ok.png');
3. ?>

Will output:

<div class="submit"><input type="image" src="/img/ok.png"></div>

text(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a text input field.

<?php
echo $this->Form->text('first_name');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->text('first_name');
3. ?>

Will output:

<input name="data[User][first_name]" value="" id="UserFirstName" type="text">

textarea(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a textarea input field.

<?php
echo $this->Form->textarea('notes');
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->textarea('notes');
3. ?>

Will output:

<textarea name="data[User][notes]" id="UserNotes"></textarea>

The textarea input type allows for the $options attribute of 'escape' which determines whether or not the contents of the textarea should be escaped. Defaults to true.

<?php
echo $this->Form->textarea('notes', array('escape' => false));
// OR....
echo $this->Form->input('notes', array('type' => 'textarea', 'escape' => false));
?>

1. <?php
2. echo $this->Form->textarea('notes', array('escape' => false));
3. // OR....
4. echo $this->Form->input('notes', array('type' => 'textarea', 'escape' => false));
5. ?>