How to get xml form values in Joomla 2.x?

Question

I'm working on custom Joomla MVC component for Joomla 2.x. I have a .xml file for custom menu item type. I need to get the value_field from it to tell the view what to show from database. I tried and researched everything and it seems nothing works for me.

Here's the codes:

default.xml

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <metadata>
    <layout title="League select">
        <message>Selector for league view on site</message>
    </layout>
    <fields name="request">
    <fieldset name="request">
        <field name="selLeag" 
               type="sql"  
               label="Select league" 
               query="SELECT leagueName, id FROM footleague_leagues"
               key_field="id" 
               value_field="leagueName" 
               required="true"
        >

        <option value="">Select league</option>

        </field>

        <field name="selDiv" 
               type="sql"  
               label="Select division" 
               query="SELECT divisionName, id FROM footleague_divisions" 
               key_field="id" 
               value_field="divisionName" 
               required="true"
        >
            <option value="">Select division</option>

        </field>
    </fieldset>
</fields>

leagueinfo.php model

<?php

    defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');

    jimport('joomla.application.component.modelitem');

    class FutLigaModelLeagueInfo extends JModelItem{

    protected $msg;

    public function getMsg(){

        if(!isset($this->msg)){
            //this shows me only the ids from database but I need value_field
            $leagueid = JRequest::getVar('selLeag');
            $divisionid = JRequest::getVar('selDiv');

            //this shows me an empty array
            $data = JFactory::getApplication()->input->get('jform', array(), 'array');

        echo $leagueid;
        echo $divisionid;

        print_r($data);


    }

    return $this->msg;

    }

}

?>

Thank you for help! :)

Answer 1

You can add a parameter in the menu item and to obtain the value_field. You cannot directly achieve that but yes you can concat the 2 columns and pass the value in key_field in xml and then explode in model file and as follows:

1. default.xml:

   <layout title="League select">
      <message>Selector for league view on site</message>
   </layout>
   
   <fields name="params">
       <fieldset name="advanced">
           <field name="selLeag" type="sql" label="Select league" 
        query="SELECT leagueName, id, concat( leagueName, ':-:',id) AS leagueNameid FROM footleague_leagues"key_field="leagueNameid" value_field="leagueName" required="true">
              <option value="">Select league</option>
           </field
      </fieldset>
   </fields>
   

2. Html Output of the xml field will give you select options as below:Suppose here, NFL league is the leagueName and 1 is it's id

   <select id="jform_params_selLeag" name="jform[params][selLeag]" class="chzn-done">
       <option value="" selected="selected">Select League</option>
       <option value="NFL:-:1">NFL</option>
   </select>
   

3. models/leagueinfo.php:

   $menuParam = JFactory::getApplication()->getParams();
   $selLeag = $menuParam->get('selLeag');// output: NFL:-:1
   $explode = explode(':-:',$selLeag);
   

   In this way, you have both id and leagueName and now you can use this value as per you want. Hope this helped!