Question

In my joomla custom component I used the SQL field type (item.xml):

    <field name="colors" type="sql" query="SELECT id ,name FROM #__products_colors" multiple="multiple" key_field="id" value_field="name" class="inputbox"
         label="colors" description="COM_PRODUCTS_FORM_DESC_ITEM_COLORS" /> 

In my view I call the field like this:

<?php echo $this->form->getInput('colors'); ?>

Which gives me a nice and smooth selectbox like this:

<select id="jform_colors" class="inputbox" multiple="multiple" name="jform[colors][]" aria-invalid="false">
<option value="1">blue</option>
<option value="2">yellow</option>
<option value="3">red</option>
<option value="4">green</option>
<option value="5">purple</option>

When I save this colors field, after selecting blue and red for example it gets saved as 1,3 in my database. Joomla does all the work for me… (THANKS Joomla)

Now maybe I am getting greedy, but somehow I expect Joomla to preselect these values for me when I edit an entry after saving. It does this with every other type of field, so why not here? Is there anything Im forgetting?

Thanks in adv!

edit: the bind function in the answer, I tweaked it a bit.

    public function bind($array, $ignore = '') {
    if (isset($array['params']) && is_array($array['params'])) {
        $registry = new JRegistry();
        $registry->loadArray($array['params']);
        $array['params'] = (string) $registry;
    }
    //print_r($array);
    if (key_exists('colors', $array) && is_array($array['colors'])) {
        echo "pwn";
        $array['colors'] = implode(',', $array['colors']);
    }

    if (isset($array['metadata']) && is_array($array['metadata'])) {
        $registry = new JRegistry();
        $registry->loadArray($array['metadata']);
        $array['metadata'] = (string) $registry;
    }
    return parent::bind($array, $ignore);
}

And DONT use filter=”safehtml” 🙂

Good luck all!

Answer 1

If you are following Joomla’s standards, you should have a method called “loadFormData” in your model. There you can be sure that the field is converted to array when fetched from the database, example:

<?php
protected function loadFormData()
{
    // Check the session for previously entered form data.
    $data = JFactory::getApplication()->getUserState('com_yourcomponent.edit.item.data', array());

    if (empty($data)) {
        $data = $this->getItem();
    }

    // THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST BE MISSING
    if (is_array($data) && !is_array($data['colors'])){
        $data['colors'] = explode(',',$data['colors']);
    } elseif (is_object($data) && !is_array($data->colors)) {
        $data->colors = explode(',',$data->colors);
    }

    return $data;
}
?>

You will also need to override your bind method in your table class:

<?php
public function bind($src, $ignore = array())
{
    if (parent::bind($src, $ignore) && is_array($this->colors)){
        $this->colors = implode(',', $this->colors);
    }
}