CakePHP 2.0 Determine which submit button has been clicked - forms

Question

In CakePHP 1.3 you can create a form with multiple submit buttons:
echo $this->Form->submit('Submit 1', array('name'=>'submit');
echo $this->Form->submit('Submit 2', array('name'=>'submit');
and detect which submit button was pressed in the controller with:
if (isset($this->params['form']['submit']) && $this->params['form']['submit'] == "Submit 1") {
// first button clicked
}
In CakePHP, $this->params['form'] isn't set and the clicked button value doesn't appear anywhere in $this->request, $this->request->data, $this->params, $this->data or $_POST.
How do I determine which button has been clicked in CakePHP 2.0?
Thanks in advance.
Edit:
As requested, here's the code for the form:
<?php echo $this->Form->create('History', array('action'=>'add')); ?>
<div class='submit'>
<?php
echo $this->Form->submit('Yes', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submit'));
echo $this->Form->submit('No', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submit'));
?>
</div>
<?php echo $this->Form->end()?>
And the output of the form:
<form action="/projects/kings_recruit/trunk/www/histories/add" id="HistoryAddForm" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8">
<div style="display:none;">
<input name="_method" value="POST" type="hidden">
</div>
<div class="submit">
<input name="submit" value="Yes" type="submit">
<input name="submit" value="No" type="submit">
</div>
</form>

Answer 1

Generally it is a bad practise to use the same name for both submit buttons.
There should be a "submit" key in the $_POST and $this->request->data
I tested this in CakePHP 2.1.1 as shown below:
The view code:
<?php echo $this->Form->create('Message', array('action'=>'test'));
// Extra test input field
echo $this->Form->input('test');
?>
<div class='submit'>
<?php
echo $this->Form->submit('Yes', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submit'));
echo $this->Form->submit('No', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submit'));
?>
</div>
<?php echo $this->Form->end()?>
The in the controller in $this->request->data:
array(
'submit' => 'Yes',
'Message' => array(
'test' => 'TestFieldTest'
)
)
And in $_POST:
array(
'_method' => 'POST',
'data' => array(
'Message' => array(
'test' => 'TestFieldTest'
)
),
'submit' => 'Yes'
)
You can also give the two submits different names:
echo $this->Form->submit('Yes', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submitY'));
echo $this->Form->submit('No', array('div'=>false, 'name'=>'submitN'));
This way you can differ them in the $_POST or $this->request->data, because the keys will be the submits' names:
array(
'submitY' => 'Yes',
'Message' => array(
'test' => 'foo'
)
)
array(
'_method' => 'POST',
'data' => array(
'Message' => array(
'test' => 'Bar'
)
),
'submitY' => 'Yes'
)
Then to determine which button is pressed you can use a simple isset($_POST['']) or over $this->request->data ?

Answer 2

Don't use the same name for both submit buttons. Consider this example:
<?php echo $this->Form->create(false); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->text('input'); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->submit('Yes', array('name' => 'submit1')); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->submit('No', array('name' => 'submit2')); ?>
<?php echo $this->Form->end(); ?>
debug($this->request->data) will produce the following when the "Yes" button is clicked:
array(
'submit1' => 'Yes',
'input' => 'test'
)
And here it is when the "No" button is clicked:
array(
'submit2' => 'No',
'input' => 'test'
)
To check which button was clicked:
if (isset($this->request->data['submit1'])) {
// yes button was clicked
} else if (isset($this->request->data['submit2'])) {
// no button was clicked
}

Answer 3

in 2.0 there is no $this->params['form'] anymore
all form helper posted fields end up in $this->data (which makes more sense anyway)
so
if (!empty($this->data['submit']) && $this->data['submit'] == "Submit 1") {}
note that !empty() is better here as well.
PS: you can use my enhanced upgrade shell to replace it in your code: https://github.com/dereuromark/upgrade
its the command
cake Upgrade.Upgrade request
(https://github.com/dereuromark/upgrade/blob/master/Console/Command/UpgradeShell.php#L833)

Answer 4

if (!empty($this->request->data['submit']) && $this->request->data['submit'] == "Yes") {
// do your stuff
}