symfony - embedForm and form widgets not saving - symfony1

Question

I have an embeddedForm that I am trying to configure the widgets for.
Currently I am just outputting the form in a _form.php template like:
<?php echo $form ?>
This is great, but I'd like to have my form fields in a particular order, so I thought I'd try:
<?php echo $form['firstname']->renderRow() ?>
<?php echo $form['lastname']->renderRow() ?>
<?php echo $form['email_address']->renderRow() ?>
This gives me an invalid widget error.
Now I have 2 forms, one is a basic form, that simply embeds another form.
<?php
class labSupportForm extends sfGuardUserAdminForm
{
public function configure()
{
$form = new labSupportProfileForm($this->getObject()->getProfile());
$this->embedForm('profile', $form);
unset($this['is_super_admin'], $this['is_admin'], $this['permissions_list'], $this['groups_list']);
$this->widgetSchema['profile'] = $form->getWidgetSchema();
$this->validatorSchema['profile'] = $form->getValidatorSchema();
}
public function save($con = null)
{
$user = parent::save($con);
if (!$user->hasGroup('Lab Support'))
{
$user->addGroupByName('Lab Support');
$user->save();
}
return $user;
}
}
and:
<?php
class labSupportProfileForm extends sfGuardUserProfileForm
{
public function configure()
{
unset($this['email_new'],
$this['validate_at'],
$this['validate'],
$this['address_1'],
$this['address_2'],
$this['city'],
$this['country'],
$this['postcode'],
$this['created_at'],
$this['updated_at'],
$this['user_id'],
$this['is_super_admin'],
$this['is_admin'],
$this['permissions_list'],
$this['groups_list']);
}
}
But If I add the widget/validator to the labSupportForm and save, the firstname value doesn't save.
Am I doing something wrong here, as I would have thought this value would save.
Thanks

Answer 1

When you render a form by fields, you have to explicitly call $form->renderHiddenFields(). For example:
<?php echo form_tag_for($form, '#url') ?>
<table>
<tfoot>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
<?php echo $form->renderHiddenFields() ?>
</td>
</tr>
</tfoot>
<tbody>
<?php echo $form['username']->renderRow() ?>
<?php echo $form['profile_form']->renderRow() ?>
</tbody>
</table>
</form>
Also, beware calling embedded form name the same as relation name (e.g. 'profile') or you will have troubles when saving it. Just add '_form' suffix and you will be safe:
$this->embedForm('profile_form', $form);
If you want to keep a linear display structure of your form fields, you should render them explicitly according to your widget schema:
<?php echo $form['username']->renderRow() ?>
<?php echo $form['profile_form']['first_name']->renderRow() ?>
<?php echo $form['profile_form']['last_name']->renderRow() ?>
Or you can do it automatically for all fields of an embedded form:
<?php foreach ($form['profile_form'] as $field): ?>
<?php if (!$field->isHidden()): ?>
<?php echo $field->renderRow() ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Answer 2

Call $this->saveEmbeddedForms() in the labSupportForm save method