How to return errors from a model back to the template?

Question

I'm working on validation with Craft. I have a custom plugin that allows public submission. However, I want to make sure I can pass errors back to the template. The key is trying to make my code as "dynamic" as possible. Meaning I do not want to specify the errors one by one.

Here is my sample controller (keep in mind I don't care what the model says is required, trying to keep the code agnostic of the model.)

public function actionSave() {

    // require a post request
    $this->requirePostRequest();

    // assign specific fields we are listening for
    $post = craft()->request->getPost('fields');

    // create a new Request model
    $model = MyModel::populateModel($post);

    // validate the model attributes
    if ($model->validate()) {
        // save the record

        // redirect to posted url
    }

    $errors = $model->getAllErrors();

    craft()->urlManager->setRouteVariables(array(
        'errors'    => $errors
    ));

}

Using $model->getAllErrors() returns an array as listed below:

array
(
    0 => 'Name cannot be blank.'
    1 => 'Details cannot be blank.'
    2 => 'Email is not a valid email address.'
)

How would I return that array to specific fields in my template like so:

{% if errors.email is defined ? errors.email | length %}
    <div data-alert class="alert">
        {{ errors.email }}
    </div>
{% endif %}

Answer 1

If you use $model->getErrors() instead, it should return a multidimensional array of errors indexed by attribute name like so:

array(
    'email' => array(
        'First email error.',
        'Second email error.',
    ),
    'firstName' => array(
        'First firstName error.',
    ),
);

Or you can get errors specifically for an attribute like so:

$model->getErrors('email');

Then update the template to check for the errors, since it is now a multidimensional array that's returned.

{% if errors.email is defined ? errors.email | length %}
<div data-alert class="alert">
    {% for error in errors.email %}
        {{ error }}
    {% endfor %}
</div>
{% endif %}