CakePHP data change during validation and beforeSave is not being save with the changes

CakePHP data change during validation and beforeSave is not being save
with the changes

I'm saving data sent from a form.
In the Controller I am doing :
$this->User->create();
$this->User->save($this->request->data)
The $this->request->data looks like this:
'User' => array(
'password' => '*****',
'username' => 'ddddd',
'role' => '256/aa01bdf80d42beb48dd3225acddf447fdd7a39f3',
'parent_id' => '0/b6ba9bd57f6c70cf738891d4c6fac22abed4161d'
)
There are validation rules that works on 'role' and 'parent_id' to insure
the role/parent ids are among those the user can access.
The validation changes the field values if the data is valid.
I also have a Tree behavior that is setting some tree fields in a
beforeSave() filter in the behavior.
The validation rule is writing the change to $this->data->[$model][$field]
as shown below.
public function checkListHash($check, $field) {
$explodedCheck = explode('/', $check[$field]);
if ($this->secureId($explodedCheck[0], $explodedCheck[1])) {
$this->data['User'][$field] = $explodedCheck[0];
return true;
}
return false;
}
The beforeFilter() in the behavior is changing the data array with
statements like this:
$Model->data[$Model->alias][$ancestors] = $ancestorList;
When validation and the beforeFilter() processing is complete, I have a
beautiful and correct array of data at $this->User->data that looks like
this:
'User' => array(
'password' => '*****',
'active' => '0',
'role' => '256',
'parent_id' => '0',
'node' => '0',
'username' => 'ddddd',
'modified' => '2013-09-15 09:55:02',
'created' => '2013-09-15 09:55:02',
'ancestor_list' => ',0,'
)
However, $this->request->data is unchanged. And that is what is being save.
Clearly I'm not understanding the relationship of these various ways to
get to the data. I've tried a variety of ways to address the data in the
three contexts:
Controller
Model
Behavior
And I've tried $this->User->create($this->request->data); before the
Controller save() statement.
In the controller, what I'm seeing as available data arrays:
PRIOR TO THE SAVE
$this->request->data = $this->data = proper data from the form
$this->User->data = some default, unpopulated array
PRIOR TO THE SAVE when I use $this->User->create($this->request->data)
all three arrays contain raw form data
AFTER THE SAVE in either case
$this->request->data = $this->data = exactly as before
$this->User->data = the properly massaged data
Can anyone sort me out?
Don Drake