you mean something like a placeholder?

{{ Form::text('statement_email_address', '', array('class'=>'form-control', 'placeholder' => '[email protected]')) }}

Thanks for the reply.

Thats great, but how do I output a field from the database as a place holder,

 {{ Form::text('payment_page_url', '', array('class'=>'form-control',
'placeholder' => payment_page_url)) }}

Give me an error:

Use of undefined constant payment_page_url - assumed 'payment_page_url'

You passed in a constant. Try $payment_page_url

But if you want to display the data that is actually saved in DB, make sure you have the same names as the database fields. Placeholder attribute is not considered as actual input and won't save anything to DB.

Edit

I just noticed... Change Form::model to something like this

{{ Form::model($user, array('route' => array('user.update', $user->id))) }}

Thanks for the reply again, all fields are named the same:

I have added the dollar sign but get an error, Undefined variable: payment_page_url

 {{ Form::text('payment_page_url', '', array('class'=>'form-control',
'placeholder' => $payment_page_url)) }}

I have changed my form to:

	{{ Form::model($organisation, array('route' => array('admin-organisation-details', $organisation-> organisation_id))) }}

Any ideas? I'd like to display current values stored in the db, in my form inputs.

Thanks again

One thing I would add is 'method' => 'put' but that probably isn't the reason.

Are you passing in the id in url? Something like localhost:8000/edit/1. If not, edit your route to accept a variable /edit/{id} or change $organisation->organisation_id to the appropriate field name, ie $organisation->organisation_name.

Thanks again for the reply.

Here is my controller method:

	// function displays a page where users can update their organisation details
// if called with input GET / POST data, this function will organisation record with that data	
public function updateOrganisationDetails() {
	// Laravel sends a _token with every form it generates to protect against CSRF attacks
	// It does not form part of user data so get all input except this token
	$input = Input::except('_token');

	// session data sometimes seems to persist, so ensure success and error messages are cleared
	Session::forget('success');
	Session::forget('error');

	// only attempt to update organisation details if input data is set
	if (!empty($input)) {
		// get the authorised user and associated organisation
		$organisation = Organisation::find(Auth::user()->organisation_id);

		// ensure organisation url is fully qualified
		if (stripos($input['payment_page_url'], 'http://') !== 0) {
			$input['payment_page_url'] = 'http://' . $input['payment_page_url'];
		}			

		// attempt to update organisation model with input data and generate a success/error message
		if (!$organisation->update($input)) {
			Session::flash('error', 'Sorry, an error occurred. Please try again.');
		}
		Session::flash('success', 'Your organisation details have been updated.');
	}

	// display organisation details page with latest data
	$data['organisation'] = Organisation::find(Auth::user()->organisation_id);
	return View::make('layouts.admin-organisation-details', $data);
}

Here is my model:

// skeleton class to allow access to organisation database table

class Organisation extends Eloquent {

/**
 * The database table used by the model.
 *
 * @var string
 */
protected $primaryKey = 'organisation_id';
public $timestamps = false;

// allow the following attributes to be mass-assigned
protected $fillable = array(
'payment_page_url',
 'statement_email_address', 
 'account_name', 
 'sort_code', 
 'account_number', 
 'tx_credit_balance');

}

I'm just learning laravel, can you tell what I need to do from the code above, to get my form populated?

thanks again

Here is my route too:

	Route::any ('admin/organisation-details',		array('uses' => 'AdminController@updateOrganisationDetails',
										 			    'as' => 'admin-organisation-details'));

You don't need a lot of functionality to view that data. A database entry, which you can create manually if you don't have the functionality yet,

a route something like:

Route::get('organisation/{id}/edit', ['as' => 'organisations.edit', 'uses' => 'OrganisationsController@edit']);
Route::put('organisation/{id}', ['as' => 'organisations.update', 'uses' => 'OrganisationsController@update']);
// or look at resource routing
// Route::resource('organisations', 'OrganisationsController');

Controller

class OrganisationsController extends \BaseController {
    public function edit($id)
    {
        $organisation = Organisation::findOrFail($id);

        return View::make('organisations.edit', compact('organisation');
    }
    
    public function update($id)
    {
        // update code goes here
    }
}

View

{{ Form::model($organisation, array('route' => ['organisations.update', $organisation->organisation_id], 'method' => 'put')) }}
    // Form fields go here
{{ Form::close() }}}

In this case, when you go to page "/organisations/3/edit", you should get the data from organisation with id of 3.

Thanks again for your reply.

The route for the view points to this method which uses this view composer:

	$data['organisation'] = Organisation::find(Auth::user()->organisation_id);
	return View::make('layouts.admin-organisation-details', $data);

If my understanding is right, does the form model in the view, need a unique id from this array to populate the form inputs?

Do I need to use the $data array in my form model like this?

	{{ Form::model($organisation, array('route' => array('admin-organisation-details', 
$data[organisation]->id))) }}

Also, the form updates the db fine, I just cant seem to display the data in the placeholders on the input edit form.