JTable, new row doesn't get inserted with table->save method

Question

I'm trying to insert a row with the table->save() method, but the method executes an UPDATE instead. There is no row available, so it needs to be inserted. Does anyone know how to get it inserted?

My code:

$tableLocation = $this->getTable("Location", 'Table', array());
if (!$tableLocation->save($data))
{
    $this->setError($user->getError());
    return false;
}

This runs the query UPDATE, but it needs to be INSERT if not available.

EDIT: Ok so I found the solution, partly. My construct method in my Table class:

parent::__construct('#__matches_location', 'user_id', $db);

Because I set the primary key to the user_id field it tried to update. So I changed it to this:

parent::__construct('#__matches_location', 'id', $db);

But now I get another issue:

Duplicate entry '185' for key 'user_id'

This is correct, there is a record for 185 in it already.

The correct way is to use the id as primary key, but then I need to change the Location table store (?) method to set everything right. Is that correct?

Ok so I tried the following:

public function bind($array, $ignore = '')
    {

        if($this->load(['user_id' => $array['user_id']])) {
            $array['id'] = $this->id;
        }

        //echo $this->id;

        return parent::bind($array, $ignore);
    }

This gives me an memory error. Probably a memory leak somewhere. So I moved the code to the store fucntion:

public function store($updateNulls = false)
    {

        if($this->load(['user_id' => $this->user_id])) {
            $this->id = $this->id;
        }

        return parent::store($updateNulls);
    } 

But this doesn't do anything, because well, I load the row, and thus the new values sent are being overwritten. Do I need to get these values first and then change them in the new loaded row?

It all seems so cumbersome, there must be an easier way right? I cannot imagine this is some sort of unique situation.

SOLUTION:

//Store data, check if records exist 
if($tableLocation->load(['user_id' => $data['user_id']])) { $data['id'] = $tableLocation->id; } 

if (!$tableLocation->save($data)) 
{ 
     $this->setError($user->getError()); 
     return false; 

}

Answer 1

save() calls store().

Store() works like this: If a primary key value is set the row with that primary key value will be updated with the instance property values. If no primary key value is set a new row will be inserted into the database with the properties from the Table instance.

Please check, if the primary key of the database table is set in your $data objekt.