Cakephp copying data from one form to two database tables

Question

How to post data from one form to two database table in same data base? where the fields have the same name in both tables.

For instance I have the following tables:

a {id, type, name, age}
b{id,a_id,type,name}

So basically I am trying to have the following values to be posted to both tables: type and name.

where the a_id in b is the id of a.

I am using cakephph. Can anyone please help.

Thanks.

Answer 1

if you want to get the values from table a then use it like..

a.type,a.name,a.age

if you want to get the values from table b then use it like..

b.a_id,b.type,b.name,b.age

Answer 2

Let's say you have two models called Store and Product, and it doesn't matter if they're related or not.

On your View you could do this:

echo $this->Form->create('Store');    
echo $this->Form->input('Store.name');    
echo $this->Form->input('Store.location');    
echo $this->Form->input('Product.name');    
echo $this->Form->input('Product.type');    
echo $this->Form->end('Save');

And on your StoresController you should do this, to save both models data:

// CakePHP 1.3    
$this->Store->save($this->data['Store']);
$this->Product->save($this->data['Product']);

// CakePHP 2.0  
$this->Store->save($this->request->data['Store']);
$this->Product->save($this->request->data['Product']);

If they're related models, you could save both with one simple call:

$this->Product->saveAll($this->data); // CakePHP 1.3

$this->Product->saveAssociated($this->request->data); // CakePHP 2.0

Do not forget to check the documentation:

CakePHP 1.3 - http://book.cakephp.org/1.3/en/view/1031/Saving-Your-Data

CakePHP 2.0 - http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/saving-your-data.html#model-saveassociated-array-data-null-array-options-array