How to reuse form in codeigniter for update and add - codeigniter

Question

Hello i want to reuse a form in codeigniter but problem is the update form is populated one the page has load. Here is a sample form.
<?php
$attributes = array('class' => 'form-horizontal', 'id' => 'addPersonnel');
echo form_open($form_submission, $attributes);
?>
<input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo set_value('name')?"> >
<input type="text" name="rank" value="<?php echo set_value('rank')?"> >
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Save</button>
<?php echo form_close()?>
My problem here lies in the set_value() method of the form_validation class since it will have conflict with populating the form if updating.

Answer 1

In your controller update function add a condition like:
if ($this->input->server('REQUEST_METHOD') === 'POST') {
$this->_get_userinfo_form_fields();
} else {
$this->_get_userinfo_form_fields($user_data); //$user_data from database
}
For add function you can directly call - $this->_get_userinfo_form_fields();
Then declare a function as below:
protected function _get_userinfo_form_fields($user_data = array()) {
$this->data['rank'] = array(
'placeholder' => 'Rank',
'name' => 'rank',
'id' => 'rank',
'class' => '',
'value' => isset($user_data['rank']) ? $user_data['rank'] :set_value('rank',$this->input->post('rank',TRUE)),
'style' => '',
);
//Add rest of the fields here like the above one
}
In view file add code like:
<?php echo form_input($rank);?>