cakePHP Could not find validation handler

Question

I'm struggeling with my cakePHP validation

Scenario: In my DB I have one table "alliances" and one "federations". In "federations" connections between alliances are stored. "alliances" has got stupid cols like id, name, etc.. federations is like this:

id, request_alliance, accept_alliance, type, requested_at, accepted_at

where request_alliance and accept_alliance are FK to alliances, type is 1 or 2.

So my model looks like this:

class Federation extends AppModel
{

  // Bundarten:
  // 1 - NAP
  // 2 - Bund
  public $displayField;

  var $belongsTo = array('Alliance_requesting' => array('className' => 'Alliance', 'foreignKey'   => 'request_alliance'),
                         'Alliance_accepting' => array('className' => 'Alliance', 'foreignKey'   => 'accept_alliance'));


  public $validate = array(
    'request_alliance' => array('required' => true, 'allowEmpty' => false),
    'accept_alliance' => array('required' => true, 'allowEmpty' => false),
    'type' => array('required' => true, 'allowEmpty' => false, 'rule' => array('between', 1, 2))

  );

}  

Alliance (created by an former partner, I only added the $hasMany)

class Alliance extends AppModel{

var $hasMany = array(
  'Federation_requesting' => array('className' => 'Federation', 'foreignKey'   => 'request_alliance', 'dependent' => true),
  'Federation_accepting' => array('className' => 'Federation', 'foreignKey'   => 'accept_alliance', 'dependent' => true)
);

public $validationDomain = 'alliance';

public $validate = array(
  'tag' => array(
    'uniqueTag' => array(
      'rule'    => 'isUnique',
      'message' => 'Alliance tag already in use'),
    'between' => array(
      'rule' => array('between', 2, 15),
      'message' => 'Alliance tag must betwenn %d to %d characters')),
  'name' => array( 
      'rule' => array('between', 3, 30),
      'message' => 'Alliance name must between %d to %d characters'),
  'image_url' => array(
    'rule' => 'url',
    'message' => 'Alliance picture must be a valid URL',
    'allowEmpty' => true),
  'homepage' => array(
    'rule' => 'url',
    'message' => 'Homepage must be a valid URL',
    'allowEmpty' => true));

}

So far I've written a view to add a new federation between two alliances. The controller for this

class FederationsController extends AppController
{

  var $name = 'Federations';
  var $components = array('Message');
  var $uses = array('Alliance', 'Federation');


  // Requesting new federation
  function add()
  {
    if(empty($this->data['Federation'])) {
      $message = __d('federation', "Invalid Request");
      $this->notice($message);
      return $this->redirect(Path::overall_highscore_alliances_path());
    }

    $requesting_alliance_id = $this->data['Federation']['req_alliance_id'];
    $req_alliance           = $this->Alliance->get($requesting_alliance_id);

    if(!$req_alliance) {
      return $this->redirect(Path::overall_highscore_alliances_path());
    }

    if(!$this->Alliance->isCurrentUserDiplomat($req_alliance)) {
      $message = __d('federation', "Only the diplomat is allowed to modify federations.");
      $this->notice($message);

      return $this->redirect(Path::alliance_path($requesting_alliance_id));
    }

    $accepting_alliance_id = $this->data['Federation']['acc_alliance_id'];
    $acc_alliance          = $this->Alliance->get($accepting_alliance_id);

    if(!$acc_alliance) {
      $message = __d('federation', "The target alliance for this federation doesn't exists.");
      $this->notice($message);

      return $this->redirect(Path::alliance_path($requesting_alliance_id));
    }

    $type = $this->data['Federation']['type'];

    $requested_at = time();

    $this->Federation->create();

    $values = array('request_alliance' => $requesting_alliance_id,
      'accept_alliance' => $accepting_alliance_id,
      'type' => $type,
      'requested_at' => $requested_at);

    $saved  = $this->Federation->save($values, true, array('request_alliance', 'accept_alliance', 'type', 'requested_at'));

    $name    = h($acc_alliance['name']);
    $message = $saved ? __d('federation', "Federation with '%s' successfully requested.", $name) : '';
    $this->notice($message);

    $this->errors($this->Federation->validationErrors);

    $this->redirect(Path::alliance_path($requesting_alliance_id));
  }

}

When I try to add a new federation it the above function is called and a new row is stored inside the DB with the correct values. But the page still shows me the following errors

Could not find validation handler 1 for request_alliance

Could not find validation handler  for request_alliance

Could not find validation handler 1 for accept_alliance

Could not find validation handler  for accept_alliance

I can't imagine that my validation is not done, because some hours ago I had a mistake which leads to empty fields and I got the correct validation message that this field can't left blank.

Can anyone tell me where I do the mistake which leads to these errors and how to correct it?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

There is no validation rule definition

From the question, compare:

'request_alliance' => array(
    'required' => true, 
    'allowEmpty' => false
),

With

'type' => array(
    'required' => true, 
    'allowEmpty' => false, 
    'rule' => array('between', 1, 2)
)

In the first case there is no rule, rule is a mandatory key if you define the validation rules as an array.

Use the notEmpty validation rule

From the validation rules defined, it looks like there's a misunderstanding. You probably want the notEmpty validation rule:

'request_alliance' => array(
    'rule' => 'notEmpty'
)

If you want to ensure that the field is present in all saves, use the required key

'request_alliance' => array(
    'rule' => 'notEmpty',
    'required' => true
)

There is no need to define the allowEmpty key, as it is the same as the notEmpty validation rule if false, and illogical if defined as true.