CakePHP 3.x - Creating/updating data without forms - forms

Question

I recently read this post on how to do a CakePHP 3.x POST without forms (doing updates on the Index.ctp page, rather than using Add.ctp or Edit.ctp).
I have 2 issues:
Modifying POST to accept select statements from an array?
My index.ctp is as follows:
<?php foreach ($resources as $resource): ?>
<tr>
<td><?= $this->Number->format($resource->id) ?></td>
<td><?= h($resource->brand) ?></td>
<td><?= h($resource->model) ?></td>
<td><?= h($resource->subtype) ?></td>
<td><?= $this->Form->postButton('Change Type',['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'change_resource', $resource->id, $resource->type->name])?></td>
<td><?= $resource->has('studio') ? $this->Html->link($resource->studio->name, ['controller' => 'Studios', 'action' => 'view', $resource->studio->id]) : '' ?></td>
<td><?= h($resource->created) ?></td>
<td><?= h($resource->modified) ?></td>
<td class="actions">
<?= $this->Html->link(__('View'), ['action' => 'view', $resource->id]) ?>
<?= $this->Html->link(__('Edit'), ['action' => 'edit', $resource->id]) ?>
<?= $this->Form->postLink(__('Delete'), ['action' => 'delete', $resource->id], ['confirm' => __('Are you sure you want to delete # {0}?', $resource->id)]) ?>
</td>
</tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>
And then the action as described in the linked StackOverflow post in the corresponding Controller:
public function change_resource($id,$existing_type)
{
$resources = TableRegistry::get('Resources');
$resource = $resources->get($id);
$resource->type = ($existing_type == '')?'$resource->$type->name';
$resources->save($resource);
return $this->redirect($this->referer());
}
Currently I'm getting a syntax error of
unexpected ';' on line 124,
which refers to the $resource->type line in the Controller method. If I remove that line, I get:
unexpected $resources on line 125
which I expect given the ; is removed so it thinks they're all on the same line.
Modifying POST for non-select inputs (eg. varchar/int/text)
I would like to be able to do a POST for the entire table, not just one input. However, while 2 of the inputs are selects from other tables in the form of arrays, the rest are all standard inputs (mostly varchar). I'm wondering how to modify the above controller to do this. Additionally, if I want to do POST for more than one input, do I require separate methods for every single input, or can I put it all in one method?

Answer 1

Please note that your ternary operator syntax is incorrect. You're missing out the colon (:)
Refer to Ternary Operator Example
Syntax: (expr1) ? (expr2) : (expr3)
$resource->type = ($existing_type == '') ? $resource->$type->name : <other statement>;