CakePHP: Drop down list (foreign key)

Question

I am trying to create a drop down list for categories. If this checks out to be okay than it must be the database. Models: Category `var $hasMany = 'Product';` Product `var $belongsTo = 'Category';` ProductsController add function: ``` $this->loadModel('Category'); $this->set('Categories',$this->Category->find('list',array('order'=> array('Category.name')))); $this->set(compact('Categories')); ```

Accepted Answer

Nebojsac is correct in that you are setting the variable "$Categories" twice in the view. In fact, `$this->set(compact('Categories'));` may actually be overwriting the first call to set() with a blank value. You should either use:

```
$this->set('categories', $this->Category->find('list'));
```

OR:

```
$categories = $this->Category->find('list');
$this->set(compact('categories'));
```

When you use compact, it is looking for a variable named $categories, and it then sets that variable to $categories to be accessible in the view.

In order for your `category_id` (or whatever your foreign key is) field to be automatically populated with the categories, you should make sure that you are creating the form using the form with the `Product` model:

```
echo $this->Form->create('Product');
```

Also, the form input should be:

```
echo $this->Form->input('category_id');
```

If you want to specify the options for your drop down manually, you can once again pass the categories to the view using `$this->set('categories', $this->Category->find('list'));`.

Then in your view file, set the `options` array key equal to $categories:

```
echo $this->Form->input('category_id', array('type' => 'select', 'options' => $categories));
```

CakePHP: Drop down list (foreign key)

Solution

Problem