Pass array as attribute from form - yii

Question

In my model I have attribute - specifications:
class Category extends CActiveRecord
{
private $_specifications = array();
public function getSpecifications()
{
return $this->_specifications;
}
public function setSpecifications($specifications)
{
$this->_specifications = implode(', ', $specifications);
}
So I want specifications to be an array.
My view file:
<div id="specifications" class="row">
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'specifications'); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][0]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][1]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
<?php echo $form->error($model,'specifications'); ?>
</div>
When I send form I get an error:
htmlspecialchars() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given
...
public static function encode($text)
84 {
85 return htmlspecialchars($text,ENT_QUOTES,Yii::app()->charset);
86 }
I've tried to disable encoding:
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('encode'=>false, 'rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][0]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('encode'=>false, 'rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][1]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
But in that case it's another error:
Array to string conversion
...
2216 $html .= ' ' . $name . '="' . ($raw ? $value : self::encode($value)) . '"';
Can anybody give an advice, what should I do to pass an array from form? Thanks.

Answer 1

How can you pass an array to a single textfield? What should it display?
You can can create a virtual attribute for that.
In the model:
private $_specifications = array();
public function getSpecifications()
{
return implode(', ', $this->_specifications);
}
The view can remain untouched.
Edit:
Of course you need a setter too, if you want to be able to write to the attribute.
public function setSpecifications($specifications)
{
$this->_specifications = explode(', ', $specifications);
}
Please refer to http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/167/understanding-virtual-attributes-and-get-set-methods/

Answer 2

Since your specifications attribute is an array, you should simply make a loop to display corresponding inputs, e.g. :
foreach ($model->specifications as $s)
{
echo Chtml::textField('Category[specifications][]', $s, array('rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'class' => 'clonedInput'));
}

Answer 3

<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('encode'=>false, 'rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][0]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
<?php echo $form->textField($model,'specifications',array('encode'=>false, 'rows'=>6, 'cols'=>50, 'name'=>'Category[specifications][1]', 'class' => 'clonedInput')); ?>
I think the specifications will be displayed twice.