CakePHP: Error message not showing Validate Fields - validation

Question

I am new to CakePHP. I have two problem with the view.
There is line break between text field name and text field area. I have tried to pass 'div' => false but that didn't work. How can I remove line break and display both on same line?
I have added validation rule to this textfield but when I click save Error message doesn't show up. Do I need to do something else beside adding validates in my model?
Here is my view input.ctp
echo $this->Form->input('fileId', array(
'type'=>'text',
'style' => 'width: 200px; height: 15px'
));
echo $this->Form->end('Save Post');
Here is my model:
var $validate = array(
'fileId' => 'notEmpty',
'message' => 'Should not be empty'
);
Controller:
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
$data = $this->request->data;
if ($data) {
// saving the data
}
}

Answer 1

If you are not using save then you need to manually validate the data using validates. In such case you also need to set the data. For e.g. in your controller
$this->ModelName->set($data);
$this->Modelname->validates();

Answer 2

For validate your data, you should have something like this:
public $validate = array(
'fileId' => array(
'rule' => 'notEmpty',
'message' => 'Should not be empty'
)
);
And your Controller:
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
if ($this->Model->save($this->request->data)) {
// saved
}
}
If you can not save, the error will be shown near the corresponding field. Or you can customize your error using $this->Model->validationErrors array.
For the line break question, make sure that 200px does the automatic line break because of where these elements are positioned.

Answer 3

validation errors appear when validates() or save() was called.
setup your action completely.
If you're not using FormHelper::input, which outputs the field, label and error, you need to manually output the error as well using $this->Form->error('fileId').
And for the form try this:
add this to your css
label { float: left;
width: 150px;
display: block;
clear: none;
text-align: left;
vertical-align: middle;
padding-right: 0px;}
.xg {
display: block;
float:left;
}
echo $this->Form->input('fileId', array('div'=>'xg','type'=>'text', 'style' => 'width: 200px; height: 15px'));
echo $this->Form->end('Save Post');

Answer 4

you can customize your output by following method:
<tr>
<td><label>Username</label></td>
<td>
<?php echo $this->Form->input('username',array('label'=>false,'div'=>false,'error'=>false)); ?>
</td>
<td><?php echo $this->Form->error('username'); ?></td>
</tr>
This method will give you output in same line.