CakePHP3 merge add and edit action

Question

After I add a herd to the system, the user gets redirected to the herdimports controller where he can enter the import data.

I would like to have the add and edit form in one action and view.

In the controller it works:

public function edit($herd_id = null)
{
    if($herd_id == null) 
    {
        // log error
        $this->Flash->success(__('No herd was selected.'));
        return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
    }
    $herdimport = $this->Herdimports->find('all')->where(['herd_id'=>$herd_id]);
    if($herdimport->count() == 0)
    {
        $herdimport = $this->Herdimports->newEntity();
    }

    if ($this->request->is(['patch', 'post', 'put'])) {
        $herdimport = $this->Herdimports->patchEntities($herdimport, $this->request->getData());
        $this->Herdimports->deleteAll(['herd_id'=>$herd_id]);
        if ($this->Herdimports->saveMany($herdimport)) {
            $this->Flash->success(__('The herdimport has been saved.'));
            return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
        }
        $this->Flash->error(__('The herdimport could not be saved. Please, try again.'));
    }
    $this->set('herd_id', $herd_id);
    $this->set(compact('herdimport'));
}

In the view I have the following code:

<?= $this->Form->create($herdimport) ?> 
<fieldset>
    <legend><?= __('Edit Herdimport') ?></legend>
    <? $i = 0; ?>
    <? foreach ($herdimport as $h) : ?>
    <div class="repeat"> 
        <?= $this->Form->hidden($i.'.herd_id'); ?> 
        <?= $this->Form->control($i.'.num',['data-default'=>""]); ?> 
        <?= $this->Form->control($i.'.date',['data-default'=>""]); ?> 
        <?= $this->Form->control($i.'.origin',['data-default'=>""]);?> 
        <?= $this->Form->control($i.'.weight',['data-default'=>""]); ?> 
        <?= $this->Form->control($i.'.price',['data-default'=>""]); ?> 
    </div>
    <? $i ++; ?>
    <? endforeach; ?>

    <button class="extra-row"><?=__('Extra row');?></button>
    <button class="delete-row" style="display: none;"><?=__('Delete row');?></button>

</fieldset>
<?= $this->Form->button(__('Submit')) ?>
<?= $this->Form->end() ?>

Which works perfect when I have entries for that herd. But if there are now entries yet (the add case), then the foreach is ignored.

How can I check in the view if there are rows or not. I've tried $herdimport->count() , but that gives errors when there are no rows.
Also tried $herdimport->isNew() , which gives an error when there are rows.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You probably shouldn't do this:

$herdimport = $this->Herdimports->newEntity();

If you want to add/edit multiple items, then $herdimport should always be either a query, or a list of entities, not a single entity.

If the underlying goal/problem is to have an initial set of inputs in case there are no records yet, then you could do something like this:

$entity = $this->Herdimports->newEntity();
$entity->herd_id = $herd_id;

$herdimport = [$entity];

ie simply wrap the initial entity in an array (and make sure that you populate the foreign key field).