Easy Multi Page Forms (or Wizards) with CakePHP

There is a wizard component available for CakePHP that’s been around for a very long time, however it uses a lot of code to something that doesn’t really need it. Today I needed to spread a single form across multiple pages for an app I am writing.

Here is the very simple controller action I used to achieve it:

<?php
	function add($step = 'account') { // $step is your first page

		$order = array(
			'contact_name' => $this->Auth->user('contact_name'),
			'company_name' => $this->Auth->user('company_name'),
			'account_number' => $this->Auth->user('account_number'),
			'delivery_address' => $this->Auth->user('delivery_address'),
			'invoice_address' => $this->Auth->user('invoice_address'),
			'promotional_discount' => $this->Auth->user('promotional_discount'),
			'extra_ordinary_discount' => $this->Auth->user('extra_ordinary_discount')
		); // your defaults

		if($this->Session->check('order')) {
			$order = Set::merge($order, $this->Session->read('order'));
		}

		if(!empty($this->data)) {
			$this->data['Order'] = Set::merge($order, $this->data['Order']);

			if($step == 'thanks') { // $step is your last step
				if(!$this->Order->save($this->data)) {
					$this->Session->setFlash('There was an error trying to save your order,
						please make sure you completed all steps');
					$step = 'confirm'; // $step is your last-but-one step
				}
			}
		} else {
			$this->data['Order'] = $order;
		}

		$this->Session->write('order', $this->data['Order']);

		$this->render('add' . DS . $step); //put your files in a folder and name them after the matching step, no need for validation, cakephp will 404 on any missing steps

	}
?>

Then in your view, post your form to the next page, so the accounts page posts to /orders/add/range, the range form posts to /orders/add/items and so on. You can then provide user navigation between the steps just by linking to that page.

<div id="page" class="accountinfo">
	<?php
		echo $this->Form->create('Order', array('url' => '/orders/add/range'));
		echo $this->Form->input('contact_name');
		echo $this->Form->input('company_name');
		echo $this->Form->input('account_number');
		echo $this->Form->input('order_number');
		echo $this->Form->input('date_required');
	?>
	<div id="paging">
		<?php echo $this->Html->link('Previous', array('controller' => 'orders', 'action' => 'index')); // first step so previous takes you back to the index ?>
		<?php echo $this->Form->submit('Next'); ?>
	</div>
	<?php echo $this->Form->end(); ?>
</div> <!-- page -->

I don’t think I could make this any simpler!

Related posts:

1. Integrating the Auth Component with a bespoke 3rd party Single Sign-On Service in CakePHP
2. Simple Sluggable Behavior for CakePHP