Form::setData([]) to remove input values of a contact form after sending email not working in CakePHP?

I’ve created a contact form in Cakephp 4 refering to the doc (https://book.cakephp.org/4/en/core-libraries/form.html).

I have a problem to remove input values after the email has been sent.

Here’s my ContactController.php :

<?php

namespace App\Controller;

use App\Controller\AppController;
use App\Form\ContactForm;

class ContactController extends AppController
{
    public function index()
    {
        $contact = new ContactForm();

        if ($this->request->is('post')) {
            if ($contact->execute($this->request->getData())) {
                $this->Flash->success('We will get back to you soon.');
                $contact->setData([]); // I want to remove data in contact form after the email has been sent, but it doesn't work
            } else {
                $this->Flash->error('There was a problem submitting your form.');
            }
        }

        $this->set('contact', $contact);
    }
}

Why is $contact->setData([]); in the code abode not removing data in my contact form ?

>Solution :

The form helper will prefer request data, eg the POST data from your form submit, otherwise the input would always get lost when a validation error occurs.

If you want to show the form page again after successful submit, then you should redirect to the current page, that’s called the PRG (Post-Redirect-Get) pattern.

So instead of $contact->setData([]);, do:

return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);

That’s also what your baked controllers will do for add and edit actions.

See also

• Cookbook > Controllers > Redirecting to Other Pages