Add error reason when overriding save function

Question

I have a custom save function in a class that is extending JModelAdmin.

The save function calls several external functions in other helper files.

At several points those helper files can indicate that there is an error and do a 'return false' which then causes the save to fail. That is working.

When this happens Joomla nicely displays

"Save failed with the following error: "

at the top of the form.

What I'm not sure is how to properly get the 'reason' back to the parent save function so that it will display the error notice after that notice.

So far the only thing that I've been able to do is within the helper file add the line:

JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage(JText::sprintf('Your %s file is not the proper format type.',$typeName),'error');

right before the

return false;

line within the helper file.

The problem is that this is displayed ABOVE the save failure notice, resulting in

Your image file is not the proper format type.

Save failed with the following error:

Which is in the wrong order.

Is there a way that I can 'push' the error type back to the calling save function (and back to the base save function) and display my error in the proper order UNDER the 'following error:' message?

Answer 1

The way JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage() display the messages in the same sequence it gets it. So "your image..." message was added first and so it shows first. So the short answer is for the errors to line up you should add them in the correct order.

There are two other ways I have found to circumvent this for now.

One is to use my own error gathering helper method and then at last bump them into the JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage() in the correct order. Here is the code used in the helper class.

/**
*   The errors
**/
protected static $errors = array();

public static function getError($key)
{
    if (isset(self::$errors[$key]) && self::checkArray(self::$errors[$key]))
    {
        return '<ul><li>'.implode('</li><li>', self::$errors[$key]).'</li><ul>';
    }
    return false;
}

protected static function setError($key, $errorArray)
{
    if (self::checkArray($errorArray))
    {
        foreach ($errorArray as $error)
        {
            if (!isset(self::$errors[$key]))
            {
                self::$errors[$key] = array();
            }
            self::$errors[$key][] = $error;
        }
    }
}

Then in the view you can do something like this:

if ($errors = YourComponentHelper::getError(1))
{
    JFactory::getApplication()->enqueueMessage('<h1>Save failed with the following error:</h1>'.$errors, 'Error');
}

The second option is that your model class has a function to get errors from it, and give it to the current model.

So in that case you can do something like this:

$model = YourComponentHelper::getModel('expert', JPATH_COMPONENT_ADMINISTRATOR); // A JCB custom helper method
if ($model->save($data))
{
    return true;
}
$errors = $model->getErrors();
if (YourComponentHelper::checkArray($errors)) // also a JCB custom helper method
{
    foreach ($errors as $error)
    {
        $this->setError($error);
    }
}

But again you will have to insure that you load these in the correct order.