Formularios¶

$options[‘type’]¶

This key is used to specify the type of form to be created. Valid values include ‘post’, ‘get’, ‘file’, ‘put’ and ‘delete’.

Supplying either ‘post’ or ‘get’ changes the form submission method accordingly.

<?php echo $form->create('User', array('type' => 'get')); ?>

//Output:
<form id="UserAddForm" method="get" action="/users/add">

Specifying ‘file’ changes the form submission method to ‘post’, and includes an enctype of “multipart/form-data” on the form tag. This is to be used if there are any file elements inside the form. The absence of the proper enctype attribute will cause the file uploads not to function.

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

//Output:
<form id="UserAddForm" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" action="/users/add">

When using ‘put’ or ‘delete’, your form will be functionally equivalent to a “post” form, but when submitted, the HTTP request method will be overridden with “PUT” or “DELETE”, respectively. This allows CakePHP to emulate proper REST support in web browsers.

$options[‘action’]¶

The action key allows you to point the form to a specific action in your current controller. For example, if you’d like to point the form to the login() action of the current controller, you would supply an $options array like the following:

<?php echo $form->create('User', array('action' => 'login')); ?>

//Output:
<form id="UserLoginForm" method="post" action="/users/login">
</form>

$options[‘url’]¶

If the desired form action isn’t in the current controller, you can specify a URL for the form action using the ‘url’ key of the $options array. The supplied URL can be relative to your CakePHP application, or can point to an external domain.

<?php echo $form->create(null, array('url' => '/recipes/add')); ?>
// or
<?php echo $form->create(null, array('url' => array('controller' => 'recipes', 'action' => 'add'))); ?>


//Output:
<form method="post" action="/recipes/add">

<?php echo $form->create(null, array(
    'url' => 'https://www.google.com/search',
    'type' => 'get'
)); ?>

//Output:
<form method="get" action="https://www.google.com/search">

Also check HtmlHelper::url method for more examples of different types of urls.

$options[‘default’]¶

If ‘default’ has been set to boolean false, the form’s submit action is changed so that pressing the submit button does not submit the form. If the form is meant to be submitted via AJAX, setting ‘default’ to false suppresses the form’s default behavior so you can grab the data and submit it via AJAX instead.

Field naming convention¶

The Form helper is pretty smart. Whenever you specify a field name with the form helper methods, it’ll automatically use the current model name to build an input with a format like the following:

<input type="text" id="ModelnameFieldname" name="data[Modelname][fieldname]">

You can manually specify the model name by passing in Modelname.fieldname as the first parameter.

echo $form->input('Modelname.fieldname');

If you need to specify multiple fields using the same field name, thus creating an array that can be saved in one shot with saveAll(), use the following convention:

<?php
   echo $form->input('Modelname.0.fieldname');
   echo $form->input('Modelname.1.fieldname');
?>

<input type="text" id="Modelname0Fieldname" name="data[Modelname][0][fieldname]">
<input type="text" id="Modelname1Fieldname" name="data[Modelname][1][fieldname]">

$options[‘type’]¶

You can force the type of an input (and override model introspection) by specifying a type. In addition to the field types found in the table above, you can also create ‘file’, and ‘password’ inputs.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array('type' => 'file')); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserField">Field</label>
    <input type="file" name="data[User][field]" value="" id="UserField" />
</div>

$options[‘before’], $options[‘between’], $options[‘separator’] and $options[‘after’]¶

Use these keys if you need to inject some markup inside the output of the input() method.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array(
    'before' => '--before--',
    'after' => '--after--',
    'between' => '--between---'
));?>

Output:

<div class="input">
--before--
<label for="UserField">Field</label>
--between---
<input name="data[User][field]" type="text" value="" id="UserField" />
--after--
</div>

For radio type input the “separator” attribute can be used to inject markup to separate each input/label pair.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array(
    'before' => '--before--',
    'after' => '--after--',
    'between' => '--between---',
    'separator' => '--separator--',
    'options' => array('1', '2')
));?>

Output:

<div class="input">
--before--
<input name="data[User][field]" type="radio" value="1" id="UserField1" />
<label for="UserField1">1</label>
--separator--
<input name="data[User][field]" type="radio" value="2" id="UserField2" />
<label for="UserField2">2</label>
--between---
--after--
</div>

For date and datetime type elements the “separator” attribute can be used to change the string between select elements. Defaults to “-“.

$options[‘options’]¶

This key allows you to manually specify options for a select input, or for a radio group. Unless the ‘type’ is specified as ‘radio’, the FormHelper will assume that the target output is a select input.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array('options' => array(1,2,3,4,5))); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserField">Field</label>
    <select name="data[User][field]" id="UserField">
        <option value="0">1</option>
        <option value="1">2</option>
        <option value="2">3</option>
        <option value="3">4</option>
        <option value="4">5</option>
    </select>
</div>

Options can also be supplied as key-value pairs.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array('options' => array(
    'Value 1'=>'Label 1',
    'Value 2'=>'Label 2',
    'Value 3'=>'Label 3'
 ))); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserField">Field</label>
    <select name="data[User][field]" id="UserField">
        <option value="Value 1">Label 1</option>
        <option value="Value 2">Label 2</option>
        <option value="Value 3">Label 3</option>
    </select>
</div>

If you would like to generate a select with optgroups, just pass data in hierarchical format. Works on multiple checkboxes and radio buttons too, but instead of optgroups wraps elements in fieldsets.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array('options' => array(
    'Label1' => array(
       'Value 1'=>'Label 1',
       'Value 2'=>'Label 2'
    ),
    'Label2' => array(
       'Value 3'=>'Label 3'
    )
 ))); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserField">Field</label>
    <select name="data[User][field]" id="UserField">
        <optgroup label="Label1">
            <option value="Value 1">Label 1</option>
            <option value="Value 2">Label 2</option>
        </optgroup>
        <optgroup label="Label2">
            <option value="Value 3">Label 3</option>
        </optgroup>
    </select>
</div>

$options[‘multiple’]¶

Si ‘multiple’ es puesto a true para una entrada de tipo select, el select admitirá multiples selecciones. Alternativamente, poniendo ‘multiple’ igual a ‘checkbox’ la salida será una lista de checkboxes relacionados.

$form->input('Modelo.campo', array( 'type' => 'select', 'multiple' => true ));
$form->input('Modelo.campo', array( 'type' => 'select', 'multiple' => 'checkbox' ));

$options[‘maxLength’]¶

Defines the maximum number of characters allowed in a text input.

$options[‘div’]¶

Use this option to set attributes of the input’s containing div. Using a string value will set the div’s class name. An array will set the div’s attributes to those specified by the array’s keys/values. Alternatively, you can set this key to false to disable the output of the div.

Setting the class name:

echo $form->input('User.name', array('div' => 'class_name'));

Output:

<div class="class_name">
    <label for="UserName">Name</label>
    <input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />
</div>

Setting multiple attributes:

echo $form->input('User.name', array('div' => array('id' => 'mainDiv', 'title' => 'Div Title', 'style' => 'display:block')));

Output:

<div class="input text" id="mainDiv" title="Div Title" style="display:block">
    <label for="UserName">Name</label>
    <input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />
</div>

Disabling div output:

<?php echo $form->input('User.name', array('div' => false));?>

Output:

<label for="UserName">Name</label>
<input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />

$options[‘label’]¶

Set this key to the string you would like to be displayed within the label that usually accompanies the input.

<?php echo $form->input( 'User.name', array( 'label' => 'The User Alias' ) );?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserName">The User Alias</label>
    <input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />
</div>

Alternatively, set this key to false to disable the output of the label.

<?php echo $form->input( 'User.name', array( 'label' => false ) ); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />
</div>

Set this to an array to provide additional options for the label element. If you do this, you can use a text key in the array to customize the label text.

<?php echo $form->input( 'User.name', array( 'label' => array('class' => 'thingy', 'text' => 'The User Alias') ) ); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserName" class="thingy">The User Alias</label>
    <input name="data[User][name]" type="text" value="" id="UserName" />
</div>

$options[“legend”]¶

Some inputs like radio buttons will be automatically wrapped in a fieldset with a legend title derived from the fields name. The title can be overridden with this option. Setting this option to false will completely eliminate the fieldset.

$options[‘id’]¶

Set this key to force the value of the DOM id for the input.

$options[“error”]¶

Using this key allows you to override the default model error messages and can be used, for example, to set i18n messages. It has a number of suboptions which control the wrapping element, wrapping element class name, and whether HTML in the error message will be escaped.

To disable error message output set the error key to false.

$form->input('Model.field', array('error' => false));

To modify the wrapping element type and its class, use the following format:

$form->input('Model.field', array('error' => array('wrap' => 'span', 'class' => 'bzzz')));

To prevent HTML being automatically escaped in the error message output, set the escape suboption to false:

$form->input('Model.field', array('error' => array('escape' => false)));

To override the model error messages use an associate array with the keyname of the validation rule:

$form->input('Model.field', array('error' => array('tooShort' => __('This is not long enough', true) )));

As seen above you can set the error message for each validation rule you have in your models. In addition you can provide i18n messages for your forms.

$options[“default”]¶

Used to set a default value for the input field. The value is used if the data passed to the form does not contain a value for the field (or if no data is passed at all).

Example usage:

<?php
    echo $form->input('ingredient', array('default'=>'Sugar'));
?>

Example with select field (Size «Medium» will be selected as default):

<?php
    $sizes = array('s'=>'Small', 'm'=>'Medium', 'l'=>'Large');
    echo $form->input('size', array('options'=>$sizes, 'default'=>'m'));
?>

You cannot use default to check a checkbox - instead you might set the value in $this->data in your controller, $form->data in your view, or set the input option checked to true.

Date and datetime fields” default values can be set by using the “selected” key.

$options[‘selected’]¶

Used in combination with a select-type input (i.e. For types select, date, time, datetime). Set ‘selected’ to the value of the item you wish to be selected by default when the input is rendered.

echo $form->input('close_time', array('type' => 'time', 'selected' => '13:30:00'));

The selected key for date and datetime inputs may also be a UNIX timestamp.

$options[‘rows’], $options[‘cols’]¶

These two keys specify the number of rows and columns in a textarea input.

echo $form->input('textarea', array('rows' => '5', 'cols' => '5'));

Output:

<div class="input text">
    <label for="FormTextarea">Textarea</label>
    <textarea name="data[Form][textarea]" cols="5" rows="5" id="FormTextarea" >
    </textarea>
</div>

$options[‘empty’]¶

If set to true, forces the input to remain empty.

When passed to a select list, this creates a blank option with an empty value in your drop down list. If you want to have a empty value with text displayed instead of just a blank option, pass in a string to empty.

<?php echo $form->input('field', array('options' => array(1,2,3,4,5), 'empty' => '(choose one)')); ?>

Output:

<div class="input">
    <label for="UserField">Field</label>
    <select name="data[User][field]" id="UserField">
        <option value="">(choose one)</option>
        <option value="0">1</option>
        <option value="1">2</option>
        <option value="2">3</option>
        <option value="3">4</option>
        <option value="4">5</option>
    </select>
</div>

If you need to set the default value in a password field to blank, use “value” => “” instead.

Options can also supplied as key-value pairs.

$options[‘timeFormat’]¶

Used to specify the format of the select inputs for a time-related set of inputs. Valid values include ‘12’, ‘24’, and ‘none’.

$options[‘dateFormat’]¶

Used to specify the format of the select inputs for a date-related set of inputs. Valid values include ‘DMY’, ‘MDY’, ‘YMD’, and ‘NONE’.

$options[“minYear”], $options[“maxYear”]¶

Used in combination with a date/datetime input. Defines the lower and/or upper end of values shown in the years select field.

$options[“interval”]¶

This option specifies the number of minutes between each option in the minutes select box.

<?php echo $form->input('Model.time', array('type' => 'time', 'interval' => 15)); ?>

Would create 4 options in the minute select. One for each 15 minutes.

$options[“class”]¶

You can set the classname for an input field using $options['class']

echo $form->input('title', array('class' => 'custom-class'));

Validating Uploads¶

Below is an example validation method you could define in your model to validate whether a file has been successfully uploaded.

// Based on comment 8 from: https://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/view/improved-advance-validation-with-parameters

function isUploadedFile($params){
    $val = array_shift($params);
    if ((isset($val['error']) && $val['error'] == 0) ||
    (!empty( $val['tmp_name']) && $val['tmp_name'] != 'none')) {
        return is_uploaded_file($val['tmp_name']);
    }
    return false;
}

checkbox¶

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 $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" />

button¶

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

Crea un botón HTML con el título y el tipo con valor por defecto de «button». Ajuste el tipo en $options['type'] podiendo seleccionar entre uno de los tres tipos de boton posibles:

1. button: Crea un boton estándar (el por defecto).

2. reset: Crea un boton para Restablecer el formulario. (reseteo de formulario).

3. submit: Similar al método $form->submit.

<?php
echo $form->button('Un Boton');
echo $form->button('Otro Boton', array('type'=>'button'));
echo $form->button('Restablecer el Formulario', array('type'=>'reset'));
echo $form->button('Enviar Formulario', array('type'=>'submit'));
?>

Esta es la salida:

<input type="button" value="Un Boton" />
<input type="button" value="Otro Boton" />
<input type="reset" value="Restablecer el Formulario" />
<input type="Submit" value="Enviar Formulario<del></del>" />

year¶

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

Creates a select element populated with the years from $minYear to $maxYear, with the $selected year selected by default. $selected can either be a four-digit year (e.g. 2004) or string 'now'. HTML attributes may be supplied in $attributes.

<?php
echo $form->year('purchased', 2005, 2009);
?>

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>
</select>

If $showEmpty is false, the select will not include an empty option. If $showEmpty is a string, it will be used as empty option’s name.

<?php
echo $form->year('returned', 2008, 2010, null, null, 'Select a year');
?>

Will output:

<select name="data[User][returned][year]" id="UserReturnedYear">
<option value="">Select a year</option>
<option value="2010">2010</option>
<option value="2009">2009</option>
<option value="2008">2008</option>
</select>

month¶

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

Creates a select element populated with month names.

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

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 (CakePHP 1.3 only), or have months displayed as numbers by passing false. (Note: the default months are internationalized and can be translated using localization.)

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

dateTime¶

dateTime(string $fieldName, string $dateFormat = ‘DMY’, $timeFormat = ‘12’, mixed $selected, array $attributes, boolean $showEmpty)

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 ‘NONE’.

day¶

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

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 $form->day('created');
?>

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¶

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

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

minute¶

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

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

meridian¶

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

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

error¶

error(string $fieldName, string $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¶

file(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a file input.

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

Will output:

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

When using $form->file(), remember to set the form encoding-type, by setting the type option to “file” in $form->create()

hidden¶

hidden(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a hidden form input. Example:

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

Will output:

<input name="data[User][id]" value="10" id="UserId" type="hidden">

isFieldError¶

isFieldError(string $fieldName)

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

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

When using $form->input(), errors are rendered by default.

label¶

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

Creates a label tag, populated with $text.

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

Will output:

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

password¶

password(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a password field.

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

Will output:

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

radio¶

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 $form->radio('gender',$options,$attributes);
?>

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¶

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

Creates a select element, populated with the items in $options, with the option specified by $selected shown as selected by default. Set $showEmpty to false if you do not want an empty select option to be displayed.

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

Will output:

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

submit¶

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 $form->submit();
?>

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 $form->submit('ok.png');
?>

Will output:

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

text¶

text(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a text input field.

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

Will output:

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

textarea¶

textarea(string $fieldName, array $options)

Creates a textarea input field.

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

Will output:

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