Laravel: Form model binding to inputs with options

Question

I've created a form using laravel's form model binding.

In the form, I've created the form fields needed to display the model info. When writing out the minimal structure everything populates fine:

{{ Form::model( $user, array('route' => array('users.update', $user->id), 'method' => 'put' )) }}

    {{ Form::label('first_name', "First Name")}}
    {{ Form::text('first_name')}}
...

Set up this way, the first_name value from my model is populated automatically when the page loads just like I expect/want it.

The problem comes when I try to specify options for the text input. I'm using bootstrap so I'd like to add a form-control class and I'd also like a placeholder in the input field. To do this I defined my text input like so:

{{ Form::text('first_name',  array('placeholder' => "e.g. Zoe", 'class' => 'form-control'))}} 

Note that the second parameter for the text value is empty. This is because I want that to be entered by the model binding without having to add something like $user->first_name because then what's the point of model binding?

If I leave it like this I get an error because Form::text() expects a string for the value , but if I fix it by entering something like:

{{ Form::text('first_name', '',  array('placeholder' => "e.g. Zoe", 'class' => 'form-control'))}}

Then I get a blank value because I'm giving it a blank string.

Is there a way that I can use form model binding in laravel to fill in the value AND still pass in the options array for my placeholder and class definition?

Answer 1

You need to just put Input::old() there:

{{ Form::text('first_name', Input::old('first_name'),  array('placeholder' => "e.g. Zoe", 'class' => 'form-control'))}}

So what happens is:

1. Laravel looks for any old input, which it will use as the first option (to repopulate your form with the input data if there is a validation error.

2. If no old Input is found, it will then revert to the modal data