cakephp edit form with file type not overidding http with put and post occurs twice with empty data - forms

Question

First off I'm new to cakephp.... I'm pulling survey questions from a database and building a form of type=file.
echo $this->Form->create('PersonalDetail', array('type' => 'file', 'id' => 'editProfileForm', 'class' => 'form-horizontal'));
echo $this->Form->hidden('id');
echo $this->Form->hidden('PersonalDetail.id');
echo $this->Form->input('PersonalDetail.field_name', array('label' => false, 'div' => false, 'readonly' => false));
echo $this->Form->submit('Update Profile', array('class' => 'btn btn-primary', 'id' => 'editProfileSubmitBtn'));
echo $this->Form->end();
According to cakephp docs "Since this is an edit form, a hidden input field is generated to override the default HTTP method." But I can't seem to figure out how to tell cake this is an edit form. It always inserts a hidden POST not PUT method:
<form action="/editForm" id="editProfileForm" class="form-horizontal" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8">
<div style="display:none;">
<input type="hidden" name="_method" value="POST"/>
<input type="hidden" name="data[_Token][key]" value="ff8b198e82d800a35581" id="Token836"/></div>
<input type="hidden" name="data[id]" id="id"/>
<input type="hidden" name="data[PersonalDetail][id]" id="PersonalDetailsId"/>
<label class="control-label required">Username</label>
<input name="data[PersonalDetail][field_name]" maxlength="255" type="text" id="PersonalDetailsFieldName"/>
<input class="btn btn-primary" id="editProfileSubmitBtn" type="submit" value="Update Profile"/>
<div style="display:none;">
<input type="hidden" name="data[_Token][fields]" value="a2f722badf82c0d8991ab8%3APersonalDetail.id%7Cid" id="TokenField020"/> <input type="hidden" name="data[_Token][unlocked]" value="" id="TokenUnlocked1562820470"/> </div></form>
The problem is when I submit the form and watch with Firefox's Tamper Data the form posts the data fine, but then it posts again immediately again with all the data missing.
On a working form example, I see the same behaviour, except the hidden input field is "PUT" and when the form submits, it is first a PUT with data, then the immediate second submission is with the POST with data instead of begin blank.
I assume I'm missing something basic here, but I'm really confused.
Here's the controller where PersonalForm is a database of questions passed to an element that builds the forms. PersonalDetail is supposed contain the answers but for this first time this is run the user won't have any answers.
public function editForm() {
$userId = $this->UserAuth->getUserId();
if (!empty($userId)) {
$user_account_type = $this->UserDetail->read('account_type', $userId);
$user_account_type = $user_account_type['UserDetail']['account_type'];
$this->set('user_acct_type', $user_account_type);
$this->loadModel('Usermgmt.PersonalForm');
$forms = $this->PersonalForm->find('all');
$this->set('forms', $forms);
if ($this->request->isPut() || $this->request->isPost()) {
//put in ajax verification
//$this->PersonalDetail->saveAssociated($this->request->data);
$this->Session->setFlash(__('Your answers have been successfully updated'));
$this->redirect('/dashboard');
} else {
// read user's original responses and populate form
$this->loadModel('Usermgmt.PersonalDetail');
$answers = $this->PersonalDetail->read(null, $userId);
$this->request->data = null;
if (!empty($answers)) {
$this->request->data = $answers;
}
}
} else {
$this->redirect('/dashboard');
}
}
I'm using cakephp 2.3.7 and I'm running the debugKit plugin (maybe causing more than one submission? I don't know.) Edit: Also I'm using UserAuth and Security modules.
EDIT: I oversimplified the example when I removed the hidden id fields. Now I included the two hidden input elements. However the first time this form is loaded there is no edit data so it is a create instead of add case. So I don't understand why it is posting twice and losing the data on the second post. Perhaps that is the real problem and not that it should be PUT vs POST? I'm obviously missing something fundamental in how cake is processing the post data.
Perhaps I should mention this is form is part of a plugin. Could the routing have something to do with the loss of data and the second post?

Answer 1

You are missing the vital part of an edit form, the id:
echo $this->Form->input('id');
Without its presence cake assumes that this is not an update (edit), but a create (add).
Also mind your casing, its not $this->Form->Submit() but $this->Form->submit().
EDIT:
At second look: I also guess that you violated more than 5 other conventions, including the most important one: Models are singular, Controllers plural. Meaning:
$this->Form->create('PersonalDetail');
If your model is PersonalDetail (which from your controller code it looks like).
This would explain why the data doesnt end up where it is supposed to.
Again my recommendation: Bake your code to see how its done.

Answer 2

It appears this is related to a security module problem.
I was able to prevent the double empty data posts by adding the following to the beforeFilter:
if (isset($this->Security) && ($this->RequestHandler->isAjax() || $this->action == 'editForm')) {
$this->Security->csrfCheck = false;
$this->Security->validatePost = false;
}
Now I need to research the reasons for this security problem with my form to fix it.