Question

Currently I am developing a CakePHP that will list various businesses.

In the database, there is a table for businesses that lists them like so:

id | name | address | city | state | state_id | zip | url

The state column are abbreviations of states (for listing purposes) CA, AK, FL, etc and the state_id matches up with the ids in the states table:

id | name | state_abbr

I have an admin_add.ctp template with form helpers for inserting new businesses.
For entering a state for a business I am going to have a pull down that lists all the states. However, how do I make the database insert so it will know how to add the state abbreviation and state id when I submit the form to add the business?

Answer 1

I figured it out.
In my Business controller I have var $uses = array('business', 'state') and then in the add function I can pass all the states data to the view of the Add Business page.
Then in the view of the Add Business I set an associative array linking the state_id to the state name. Then I can pass that through $form->input('state_id', array('options' => $stateArray)).