Button submit's value not transmitted in POST - forms

Question

I am using Yii2 and I want to create comment functionality on post using Pjax widget.
The comment windows displays all the existing comments for the post adding an edit button to the ones that belongs to the connected user in order to permit changes.
Under this list of comments,there is a form including a textarea and a submit button to allow comment creation.
Each time the user click on an already existing comment 's edit button, a form is displayed to allow update.
How all this actually runs and the trouble I meet:
I can update an existing comment an infinite number of times, and it is what I want.
If, just after refreshing the view post page, I enter a new comment, it
is correctly submitted. But I cannot enter an other one and I want to be able to post more than one. The second time, it appears that the POST contains the content of the comment but nothing
regarding the submit button. Thus I cannot recognize which button has
been clicked.
The same thing happens after I have changed an
existing comment i.e. I cannot create a new comment for the same
reason – nothing about the submit button in the POST.
My question
How comes the submit button is transmitted in the POST only if it is the first one used and it is the first time it is used after a refresh of the page?
Here are the relevant code parts
1-Controller
/**
* display a post
*#param integer $id
*
* return a view
*/
public function actionView ($id){
$post = $this->findModel($id);
$comment=$this->manageComment($post);
return $this->render('view', [
'post_model' => $post,
'comment_model' => $comment,
]);
}
/*
* deals with the post according to the submit value
* if submitted and return the comment under treatment
* otherwise – not submitted – return a new comment
*
*#param $post the post that holds the comments
*
* return a Comment model
*/
protected function manageComment($post)
{
$comment=new Comment;
if(isset($_POST['Comment']) )
{
switch ($_POST['Submit']) {
case 'create':
$comment->attributes=$_POST['Comment'];
if($post->addComment($comment,false))
{
//la création a réussi
if($comment->status==Comment::STATUS_PENDING)
Yii::$app->session->setFlash('success',
Yii::t('app','Thank you for your comment.
Your comment will be visible once it is approved.'));
//on renouvelle le commentaire pour éviter d'avoir
//un bouton update (mise à jour)
return new Comment;
}
break;
case 'update':
$comment=Comment:: find()
->where(['id' => $_POST['Comment']['id']])
->one();
if($comment->attributes=$_POST['Comment']){
if($post->addComment($comment,true))
{
//update successful
if($comment->status==Comment::STATUS_PENDING)
{Yii::$app->session->setFlash('success',
Yii::t('app','Thank you for your comment.
Your comment will be visible once it is approved.'));}
$comment= new Comment;
return $comment;
} else {
//la mise à jour a échoué
$comment= new Comment;
return $comment;
}
}else{echo'load failed'; exit();}
break;
case 'edit':
// echo $_POST['Comment']['id']; exit();
$comment->id = $_POST['Comment']['id'];
return $comment;
break;
default:
}
}
//creation successful
return $comment;
}
2-In Post view
<!--comment_model is passed by PostController-->
<?= $this->render('#app/views/comment/_create-form',
['model' => $comment_model, 'post' => $post_model]); ?>
3 - the _create-form view
<div class="comment-form">
<?php Pjax::begin([ ]);?>
<!-- this bloc must be part of the Pjax in order for the new
comment to appear immediately -->
<div class="comment">
<h4 ><?= Yii::t('app','Comments by users')?></h4>
<div class="comments">
<?php $comments= Comment::find()
->where (['post_id' => $post->id ])
->andWhere(['status' => true])
->all();
foreach($comments as $com){
$identity= User::findIdentity($com->user_id);
$firstname=$identity->firstname;
familyname=$identity->familyname;
$date= Utils::formatTimestamp($com->created_at);
$txt1 = Yii::t('app','Posted by ');
$txt2 = Yii::t('app',' on ');
$text_header =$txt1. $firstname.' '.$familyname.$txt2.$date;
//here we check that $model->id is defined an equal to $com->id
//to include edition form
if (isset($model->id) && ($model->id == $com->id) )//
{
// echo Yii::$app->user->identity->id. ' '.$com->user_id; exit();
echo $this->render(
'_one-comment',(['com' => $com,
'text_header' => $text_header,
'submit_btn' => false,
'with_edit_form' => true]));
} else
{
$submit_btn=false;
if (Yii::$app->user->identity->id == $com->user_id) $submit_btn=true; else $submit_btn=false;
echo $this->render('_one-comment',(['com' => $com, 'text_header' => $text_header, 'submit_btn' => $submit_btn,'with_edit_form' => false]));
}
}?>
</div>
<!--this div should be between Pjax::begin and Pjax::end otheswise it is not refreshed-->
<div id="system-messages" >
<?php foreach (Yii::$app->session->getAllFlashes() as $type => $message): ?>
<?php if (in_array($type, ['failure','success', 'danger', 'warning', 'info'])): ?>
<?= Alert::widget([
'options' => ['class' => ' alert-dismissible alert-'.$type],
'body' => $message
]) ?>
<?php endif ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
</div>
<?php
$form = ActiveForm::begin([
'options' => ['data' => ['pjax' => true]],//'id' => 'content-form'
// more ActiveForm options
]); ?>
<?= $form->field($model, 'content')
->label('Postez un nouveau commentaire')
->textarea(['rows' => 6]) ?>
<?= Html::submitButton('Create comment',
['content' => 'edit','name' =>'Submit','value' => 'create']) ?>
<?php
ActiveForm::end();?>
</div>
<?php Pjax::end()
?>
</div>
4 - the _one-comment view
<div class="one-comment">
<div class="comment-header">
<?php echo $text_header;?>
</div>
<div class="comment-text">
<?php echo $com->content;?>
</div>
<div class="comment-submit">
<?php
if ($with_edit_form)
{
// echo "with edit ".$com->id; exit();
echo $this->render('_update-one-comment',(['com' =>$com]));
} else
{
if($submit_btn){
$form = ActiveForm::begin([
'options' => [ 'data' => ['pjax' => true]],//'name' => 'one','id' => 'com-form-'.$com->id,
// more ActiveForm options
]); ?>
<?= $form->field($com, 'id')->hiddenInput()->label(false);?>
<div class="form-group">
<?= Html::submitButton('', [
'class' => 'glyphicon glyphicon-pencil sub-btn',
'content' => 'edit',
'name' =>'Submit','value' => 'edit']) ?>
</div>
<?php
ActiveForm::end();
}
}?>
</div>
</div>
5 the _update-one-comment form
//echo 'dans update-one-comment';print_r($com->toArray()); exit();
$form = ActiveForm::begin([
'options' => [ 'data' => ['pjax' => true]],//'name' => 'edit-one','id' => 'edit-com-form-'.$com->id,
// more ActiveForm options
]); ?>
<?= $form->field($com, 'id')->hiddenInput()->label(false);?>
<?= $form->field($com, 'created_at')->hiddenInput()->label(false);?>
<?= $form->field($com, 'updated_at')->hiddenInput()->label(false);?>
<?= $form->field($com, 'content')
->label('Mise à jour commentaire')
->textarea(['rows' => 6]) ?>
<div class="form-group">
<?= Html::submitButton($com->isNewRecord ?
Yii::t('app', 'Create comment') :
Yii::t('app', 'Update comment'), ['class' => $com->isNewRecord ?
'btn btn-success' :
'btn btn-primary','name' =>'Submit','value' => 'update']) ?>
</div>
<?php
ActiveForm::end();
?>
6- the Post model 's addComment()
public function addComment($comment, $up=false)
{
if(Yii::$app->params['commentNeedApproval'])
{$comment->status=Comment::STATUS_PENDING;}
else {$comment->status=Comment::STATUS_APPROVED;}
$comment->post_id=$this->id;
$comment->user_id=Yii::$app->user->identity->id;
if($up){
$test=$comment->update();
if($test) {//($comment->save(false)){
Yii::$app->session->setFlash('success',Yii::t(
'app','The comment has been succesfully updated.'));
return true;
}
Yii::$app->session->setFlash('failure',Yii::t(
'app','The comment could not be updatded.'));
} else
{ //création
if($comment->save()){
Yii::$app->session->setFlash('success',
Yii::t('app','The comment has been succesfully recorded.'));
return true;
}
Yii::$app->session->setFlash('failure',
Yii::t('app',$up.false.'The comment could not be recorded.'));
}
return false;
}

Answer 1

Why are you counting on the submit button name / value to figure out what you need to do?
$_POST['Comment']['id'] is a much better indicator of what needs to done. If it is there update otherwise create.
Also make sure the model does not allow editing of comments posted by others.
The model should not set flash messages, that is a job for the controller.
"I can update an existing comment an infinite number of times." of course you can, from what you told us there is nothing that would say you should not be able to. And you are not checking to prevent that.

Answer 2

As the submit button's value is not always transmitted in the post (it works with Chromium but not with Firefox), I solved my problem adding a hidden field in the forms and used it instead of the submit button's value.