Class EntityContext

Provides a form context around a single entity and its relations.

It also can be used as context around an array or iterator of entities.

This class lets FormHelper interface with entities or collections of entities.

Important Keys:

  • entity The entity this context is operating on.
  • table Either the ORM\Table instance to fetch schema/validators from, an array of table instances in the case of a form spanning multiple entities, or the name(s) of the table. If this is null the table name(s) will be determined using naming conventions.
  • validator Either the Validation\Validator to use, or the name of the validation method to call on the table object. For example 'default'. Defaults to 'default'. Can be an array of table alias=>validators when dealing with associated forms.
Namespace: Cake\View\Form

Properties summary

  • $_context protected
    array

    Context data for this object.

  • $_isCollection protected
    bool

    Boolean to track whether or not the entity is a collection.

  • $_request protected
    \Cake\Http\ServerRequest

    The request object.

  • $_rootName protected
    string

    The name of the top level entity/table object.

  • $_tableLocator protected
    \Cake\ORM\Locator\LocatorInterface|null

    Table locator instance

  • $_tables protected
    \Cake\ORM\Table[]

    A dictionary of tables

  • $_validator protected
    \Cake\Validation\Validator[]

    Dictionary of validators.

Method Summary

  • __construct() public

    Constructor.

  • _extractMultiple() protected

    Helper method used to extract all the primary key values out of an array, The primary key column is guessed out of the provided $path array

  • _getProp() protected

    Read property values or traverse arrays/iterators.

  • _getTable() protected

    Get the table instance from a property path

  • _getValidator() protected

    Get the validator associated to an entity based on naming conventions.

  • _prepare() protected

    Prepare some additional data from the context.

  • _schemaDefault() protected

    Get default value from table schema for given entity field.

  • attributes() public

    Get an associative array of other attributes for a field name.

  • entity() public

    Fetch the entity or data value for a given path

  • error() public

    Get the errors for a given field

  • fieldNames() public

    Get the field names from the top level entity.

  • getMaxLength() public

    Get field length from validation

  • getPrimaryKey() public

    Get the primary key data for the context.

  • getRequiredMessage() public

    Gets the default "required" error message for a field

  • getTableLocator() public

    Gets the table locator.

  • hasError() public

    Check whether or not a field has an error attached to it

  • isCreate() public

    Check whether or not this form is a create or update.

  • isPrimaryKey() public

    Returns true if the passed field name is part of the primary key for this context

  • isRequired() public

    Check if a field should be marked as required.

  • leafEntity() protected

    Fetch the terminal or leaf entity for the given path.

  • primaryKey() public

    Get the primary key data for the context.

  • setTableLocator() public

    Sets the table locator.

  • type() public

    Get the abstract field type for a given field name.

  • val() public

    Get the value for a given path.

Method Detail

__construct() public 

__construct(\Cake\Http\ServerRequest $request, array $context)

Constructor.

Parameters

\Cake\Http\ServerRequest $request

The request object.

array $context

Context info.

_extractMultiple() protected 

_extractMultiple(mixed $values, array $path)

Helper method used to extract all the primary key values out of an array, The primary key column is guessed out of the provided $path array

Parameters

mixed $values

The list from which to extract primary keys from

string[] $path

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name

Returns

array|null

_getProp() protected 

_getProp(mixed $target, mixed $field)

Read property values or traverse arrays/iterators.

Parameters

mixed $target

The entity/array/collection to fetch $field from.

string $field

The next field to fetch.

Returns

mixed

_getTable() protected 

_getTable(mixed $parts, mixed $fallback)

Get the table instance from a property path

Parameters

string[]|string|\Cake\Datasource\EntityInterface $parts

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name

bool $fallback optional

Whether or not to fallback to the last found table when a non-existent field/property is being encountered.

Returns

\Cake\ORM\Table|null

Table instance or null

_getValidator() protected 

_getValidator(array $parts)

Get the validator associated to an entity based on naming conventions.

Parameters

array $parts

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name

Returns

\Cake\Validation\Validator

Throws

RuntimeException
If validator cannot be retrieved based on the parts.

_prepare() protected 

_prepare()

Prepare some additional data from the context.

If the table option was provided to the constructor and it was a string, TableLocator will be used to get the correct table instance.

If an object is provided as the table option, it will be used as is.

If no table option is provided, the table name will be derived based on naming conventions. This inference will work with a number of common objects like arrays, Collection objects and ResultSets.

Throws

RuntimeException
When a table object cannot be located/inferred.

_schemaDefault() protected 

_schemaDefault(array $parts)

Get default value from table schema for given entity field.

Parameters

string[] $parts

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name

Returns

mixed

attributes() public 

attributes(string $field)

Get an associative array of other attributes for a field name.

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to get additional data on.

Returns

array

An array of data describing the additional attributes on a field.

entity() public 

entity(?array $path)

Fetch the entity or data value for a given path

This method will traverse the given path and find the entity or array value for a given path.

If you only want the terminal Entity for a path use leafEntity instead.

Parameters

array|null $path optional

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name or null to get the entity passed in constructor context.

Returns

\Cake\Datasource\EntityInterface|iterable|null

Throws

RuntimeException
When properties cannot be read.

error() public 

error(string $field)

Get the errors for a given field

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to check errors on.

Returns

array

An array of errors.

fieldNames() public 

fieldNames()

Get the field names from the top level entity.

If the context is for an array of entities, the 0th index will be used.

Returns

string[]

Array of field names in the table/entity.

getMaxLength() public 

getMaxLength(string $field)

Get field length from validation

Parameters

string $field

The dot separated path to the field you want to check.

Returns

int|null

getPrimaryKey() public 

getPrimaryKey()

Get the primary key data for the context.

Gets the primary key columns from the root entity's schema.

Returns

string[]

getRequiredMessage() public 

getRequiredMessage(string $field)

Gets the default "required" error message for a field

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to the field name

Returns

string|null

getTableLocator() public 

getTableLocator()

Gets the table locator.

Returns

\Cake\ORM\Locator\LocatorInterface

hasError() public 

hasError(string $field)

Check whether or not a field has an error attached to it

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to check errors on.

Returns

bool

Returns true if the errors for the field are not empty.

isCreate() public 

isCreate()

Check whether or not this form is a create or update.

If the context is for a single entity, the entity's isNew() method will be used. If isNew() returns null, a create operation will be assumed.

If the context is for a collection or array the first object in the collection will be used.

Returns

bool

isPrimaryKey() public 

isPrimaryKey(string $field)

Returns true if the passed field name is part of the primary key for this context

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to the field a value is needed for.

Returns

bool

isRequired() public 

isRequired(string $field)

Check if a field should be marked as required.

Parameters

string $field

The dot separated path to the field you want to check.

Returns

bool|null

leafEntity() protected 

leafEntity(mixed $path)

Fetch the terminal or leaf entity for the given path.

Traverse the path until an entity cannot be found. Lists containing entities will be traversed if the first element contains an entity. Otherwise the containing Entity will be assumed to be the terminal one.

Parameters

array|null $path optional

Each one of the parts in a path for a field name or null to get the entity passed in constructor context.

Returns

array

Containing the found entity, and remaining un-matched path.

Throws

RuntimeException
When properties cannot be read.

primaryKey() public 

primaryKey()

Get the primary key data for the context.

Gets the primary key columns from the root entity's schema.

Returns

string[]

setTableLocator() public 

setTableLocator(\Cake\ORM\Locator\LocatorInterface $tableLocator)

Sets the table locator.

Parameters

\Cake\ORM\Locator\LocatorInterface $tableLocator

LocatorInterface instance.

Returns

$this

type() public 

type(string $field)

Get the abstract field type for a given field name.

Parameters

string $field

A dot separated path to get a schema type for.

Returns

string|null

An abstract data type or null.

See Also

\Cake\Database\TypeFactory

val() public 

val(string $field, array $options)

Get the value for a given path.

Traverses the entity data and finds the value for $path.

Parameters

string $field

The dot separated path to the value.

array $options optional

Options:

  • default: Default value to return if no value found in request data or entity.
  • schemaDefault: Boolean indicating whether default value from table schema should be used if it's not explicitly provided.

Returns

mixed

The value of the field or null on a miss.

Property Detail

$_context protected

Context data for this object.

Type

array

$_isCollection protected

Boolean to track whether or not the entity is a collection.

Type

bool

$_request protected

The request object.

Type

\Cake\Http\ServerRequest

$_rootName protected

The name of the top level entity/table object.

Type

string

$_tableLocator protected

Table locator instance

Type

\Cake\ORM\Locator\LocatorInterface|null

$_tables protected

A dictionary of tables

Type

\Cake\ORM\Table[]

$_validator protected

Dictionary of validators.

Type

\Cake\Validation\Validator[]

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https://api.cakephp.org/4.0/class-Cake.View.Form.EntityContext.html