Invalid argument supplied for foreach() -- When trying to make a query on a SearchModel - Yii2

Question

I was trying to make a search model for a mini Geo location system. Whenever I tried to get the data sorted by directly calling the GeoData model it works unless we try to sort.

But when we try to use the CustomMade SearchModel it sends : Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

Here is the SearchModel:

<?php namespace app\models;
use Yii;
use yii\base\Model;
use yii\data\ActiveDataProvider;
use app\models\GeoData;
/**
 * This is the ActiveQuery class for [[GeoData]].
 *
 * @see GeoData
 */
class GeoDataSearch extends GeoData
{
    const TODOS = 1;
    const FECHA = 2;
    const ENVIADO_POR = 3;

    public function rules()
    {
         return [
            [['latitude', 'longitude'], 'required'],
            [['latitude', 'longitude', 'accuracy', 'speed', 'betterlocation'], 'number'],
            [['device_id', 'active', 'sended', 'mobildate', 'created_at', 'updated_at', 'created_by'], 'integer'],
            [['created_by'], 'exist', 'skipOnError' => true, 'targetClass' => User::class, 'targetAttribute' => ['created_by' => 'id']],
        ];
    }
    /*public function active()
    {
        return $this->andWhere('[[status]]=1');
    }*/

    public function scenarios()
    {
        return Model::scenarios();
    }
    public function search($params)
    {
        $query = GeoData::find()->where(['created_by' => $params])->all();

            $dataProvider = new ActiveDataProvider([
                'query' => $query,
                'sort' => [
                    'defaultOrder' => [
                        'created_at' => SORT_DESC,
                    ]
                ]
                
            ]);
        
        $dataProvider->sort->attributes['created_at'] = [
            'asc' => ['created_at' => SORT_ASC],
            'desc' => ['created_at' => SORT_DESC]
        ];
        $dataProvider->sort->attributes['created_by'] = [
            'asc' => ['created_by' => SORT_ASC],
            'desc' => ['created_by' => SORT_DESC]
        ];
        $dataProvider->sort->attributes['geo_id'] = [
            'asc' => ['geo_id' => SORT_ASC],
            'desc' => ['geo_id' => SORT_DESC]
        ];

        $this->load($params);
   
        $query->andFilterWhere([
            'geo_id' => $this->geo_id,
            'latitude' => $this->latitude,
            'longitude' => $this->longitude,
            'accuracy' => $this->accuracy,
            'speed' => $this->speed,
            'device_id' => $this->device_id,
            'betterlocation' => $this->betterlocation,
            'active' => $this->active,
            'mobiledate' => $this->mobildate,
            'sended' => $this->sended,
            'updated_at' => $this->updated_at,
            'created_at' => $this->created_at,
            'created_by' => $this->created_by,
        ]);

        return $dataProvider;

    }

}

And the controller (The code that is commented works but it won't allow me to use the GridView nor filter or Sort:

public function actionView($id)
    {
        $title = "Ver Historial";
        $id = $_GET['id'];
        $searchModel = new GeoDataSearch;
        
        $dataProvider = $searchModel->search($id);
        return $this->render(
            'view',
            [
                'title' => $title,
                'searchModel' => $searchModel,
                'dataProvider' => $dataProvider
        ]);
/*
        if (Yii::$app->user->can(AuthItem::ROLE_ADMINISTRATOR))
        {
        $id = $_GET['id'];
        $title = "Ver Historial";
        $model = new GeoData;
        $dataProvider = $model::findAll(['created_by'=> $id]); 
        return $this->render(
            'view',
            [
                'title' => $title,
                'dataProvider' => $dataProvider,
            ]
            );
        } else {
            throw new ForbiddenHttpException('Access denied for user '.Yii::$app->user->identity->id);
        }
   */
    }

Any Suggestion will be really appreciated!

Answer 1

First your GeoDataSearch search() function should look like this:

public function search($params)
{
    $query = GeoData::find();

    $dataProvider = new ActiveDataProvider([
        'query' => $query,
        'sort' => [
            'defaultOrder' => [
                'created_at' => SORT_DESC,
            ]
        ]
        
    ]);

    $this->load($params);

    if (!$this->validate())
        return $dataProvider;

    $query->andFilterWhere([
        'geo_id' => $this->geo_id,
        'latitude' => $this->latitude,
        'longitude' => $this->longitude,
        'accuracy' => $this->accuracy,
        'speed' => $this->speed,
        'device_id' => $this->device_id,
        'betterlocation' => $this->betterlocation,
        'active' => $this->active,
        'mobiledate' => $this->mobildate,
        'sended' => $this->sended,
        'updated_at' => $this->updated_at,
        'created_at' => $this->created_at,
        'created_by' => $this->created_by,
    ]);

    return $dataProvider;
}

Add a second function to GeoDataSearch model:

/**
 * @param int $creator_id ID of the creator
 * @param mixed $params
 * @return ActiveDataProvider
 */
public function searchByCreator($creator_id, $params)
{
    // This will verify if the $params['GeoDataSearch'] index exists
    if ( isset( $params['GeoDataSearch'] ) ) {
        $params['GeoDataSearch']['created_by'] = $creator_id;
    } else {
        // Create the index if it doesn't exist
        $params['GeoDataSearch'] = ['created_by' => $creator_id];
    }

    return $this->search($params);
}

Update your actionView:

public function actionView($id)
{
    $title = "Ver Historial";
    $searchModel = new GeoDataSearch;
    // The $id param is already receiving the $_GET['id']
    $dataProvider = $searchModel->searchByCreator($id, Yii::$app->request->queryParams);

    return $this->render(
        'view',
        [
            'title' => $title,
            'searchModel' => $searchModel,
            'dataProvider' => $dataProvider
    ]);
}

Don't setup user validation in the actionView, use AccessControl instead.

---

Explaining

DataProvider are for easy data pagination and sorting (View docs).

Querys filters the data for the DataProvider manipulation.

The search method is a convention for attaching query filters to a DataProvider in a single place for better reuse. So you should be looking to have a generic search method that can be reused on multiple scenarios.

In this example, the GeoDataSearch->search() method is used for searching multiple GeoData models by passing any parameter you want, so you will pass an array to it, most likely with the data from front-end.

If you are using Yii2 ActiveForm inputs (with GET method set) in your front-end, on GeoDataSearch fields. For example:

<?= $form->field($searchModel, 'speed')->textInput(); ?>

This will allow to filter the results by the speed attribute. When a user submit this form, your back-end will get the following content from Yii::$app->request->queryParams:

[
    'GeoDataSearch' => [
        'speed' => '10.00'
    ]
]

You should use this on the search method, that will filter all GeoData by their speed.

Important to notice that the speed attribute will be a index on GeoDataSearch. This is the way Yii2 builds params with their core form methods and affects the models load() method, and the reason that the implementation on searchByCreator seems a little convoluted.

Back to your case,

You need to filter by the creator. Since this needs to always be attached to the search query params, I recommend you to create a new method (searchByCreator), which consumes the already existing search method, force the created_by attribute, all while keeping the other filters alive.