Read schema defaults when generating field using EntityContext.

src/View/Form/EntityContext.php

@@ -201,16 +201,26 @@ public function isCreate()
      * Traverses the entity data and finds the value for $path.
      *
      * @param string $field The dot separated path to the value.
+     * @param array $options Options:
+     *   - `default`: Default value to return if no value found in request
+     *     data or entity.
+     *   - `schemaDefault`: Boolen indicating whether default value from table
+     *     schema should be used if it's not explicitly provided.
      * @return mixed The value of the field or null on a miss.
      */
-    public function val($field)
+    public function val($field, $options = [])
     {
+        $options += [
+            'default' => null,
+            'schemaDefault' => true
+        ];
+
         $val = $this->_request->data($field);
         if ($val !== null) {
             return $val;
         }
         if (empty($this->_context['entity'])) {
-            return null;
+            return $options['default'];
         }
         $parts = explode('.', $field);
         $entity = $this->entity($parts);
@@ -220,7 +230,15 @@ public function val($field)
         }
 
         if ($entity instanceof EntityInterface) {
-            return $entity->get(array_pop($parts));
+            $part = array_pop($parts);
+            $val = $entity->get($part);
+            if ($val !== null) {
+                return $val;
+            }
+            if (!$options['schemaDefault']) {
+                return $options['default'];
+            }
+            return $this->_schemaDefault($part, $entity);
         }
         if (is_array($entity)) {
             $key = array_pop($parts);
@@ -229,6 +247,26 @@ public function val($field)
         return null;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Get default value from table schema for given entity field.
+     *
+     * @param string $field Field name.
+     * @param \Cake\Datasource\EntityInterface $entity The entity.
+     * @return mixed
+     */
+    protected function _schemaDefault($field, $entity)
+    {
+        $table = $this->_getTable($entity);
+        if ($table === false) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        $defaults = $table->schema()->defaultValues();
+        if (!array_key_exists($field, $defaults)) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        return $defaults[$field];
+    }
+
     /**
      * Helper method used to extract all the primary key values out of an array, The
      * primary key column is guessed out of the provided $path array

src/View/Helper/FormHelper.php

@@ -2407,7 +2407,11 @@ protected function _initInputField($field, $options = [])
             unset($options['value']);
         }
         if (!isset($options['val'])) {
-            $options['val'] = $context->val($field);
+            $valOptions = [
+                'default' => isset($options['default']) ? $options['default'] : null,
+                'schemaDefault' => isset($options['schemaDefault']) ? $options['schemaDefault'] : true,
+            ];
+            $options['val'] = $context->val($field, $valOptions);
         }
         if (!isset($options['val']) && isset($options['default'])) {
             $options['val'] = $options['default'];

tests/TestCase/View/Form/EntityContextTest.php

@@ -654,6 +654,26 @@ public function testValAssociatedCustomIds()
         $this->assertEquals([1, 4], $result);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test getting default value from table schema.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function testValSchemaDefault()
+    {
+        $table = TableRegistry::get('Articles');
+        $column = $table->schema()->column('title');
+        $table->schema()->addColumn('title', ['default' => 'default title'] + $column);
+        $row = $table->newEntity();
+
+        $context = new EntityContext($this->request, [
+            'entity' => $row,
+            'table' => 'Articles',
+        ]);
+        $result = $context->val('title');
+        $this->assertEquals('default title', $result);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test validator for boolean fields.
      *