How to handle entry save in plugin when entryId is not set?

Question

Referring to my older question, I have the entryId working on an existing entry. However I've noticed a new entry doesn't have an entryId set (makes sense).

I have some custom information in text fields that needs to be saved after onSaveEntry is fired (which I have working). I have a custom model, record, controller and service setup. In my controller I retrieve these custom text fields including the entryId field from Craft. But because a new entry doesn't have an entryId set yet, my controller/service is not working as it should.

When the entry is saved and the page redirects to wherever, I also lose all the information in the text fields. So that's why I want to save my custom information directly after the entry is saved.

My question is, how do I handle this when I don't have the entry id. I don't want the user saving the entry first (to basically generate the entry id), then fill in the custom text fields and then save again (which works). But I think this is very devious.

This is my controller:

public function actionSaveRecord() {
   $this->requirePostRequest();

   if ($id = craft()->request->getPost('recordId')) {
          $model = craft()->plugin->getRecordById($id);
     } else {
        $model = craft()->plugin->newRecord($id);
   }

   $model->entryId = craft()->request->getPost('entryId');
   $model->customField = craft()->request->getPost('customField ');

   if ($model->validate()) {
       craft()->plugin->saveRecord($model);
   }
}

This is the service:

public function saveRecord(PluginModel &$model)
{
    if ($id = $model->getAttribute('id')) {
        $pluginRecord = PluginRecord::model()->findById($id);

        if (!$pluginRecord) {
            throw new Exception(Craft::t('Can\'t find record with ID "{id}"', array('id' => $id)));
        }
    } else {
        $pluginRecord = new PluginRecord();
    }

    if ($model->validate()) {
        $attributes = array(
            'entryId' => $model->entryId,
            'customField' => $model->customField,
        );

        foreach ($attributes as $k => $v) {
            $pluginRecord ->setAttribute($k, $v);
        }

        if ($pluginRecord ->save()) {
            // update id on model (for new records)
            $model->setAttribute('id', $pluginRecord->getAttribute('id'));
            return true;
        } else {
            $model->addErrors($pluginRecord->getErrors());
            return false;
        }
    }
}

The rest of the plugin can be found here for reference: https://github.com/iNalgiev/webtexttool1

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 02 '16 at 00:00

Had to browse through your plugin repo for a bit to try and wrap my head around what's going on, but I think you have the problem nailed down in that the issue is this: https://github.com/iNalgiev/webtexttool1/blob/1.0.0/WebtexttoolPlugin.php#L57

Trying to grab the entry ID from the cp.entries.edit.right-pane template hook for a new entry is going to return null because IDs aren't assigned until after the element is saved.

Off the top of my head, you've got two not-so-thought-out options.

Refactor your plugin logic so that the code that eventually calls your controller/service's saveRecord methods happen after the entry has been saved in onSaveEntry and you've got a valid entry ID.
Come up with some AJAXy way to calling Craft's saveEntry method from the cp.entries.edit.right-pane template hook that returns the entry ID so the rest of your logic can assume that the entry already exists.

How to handle entry save in plugin when entryId is not set?

1 Answers1