Problem with saving rows in component on front end

[tomfuller]

Saving on the front end runs into problems while using SEF. The "id" of the row seems to be removed by the router so Joomla thinks editing a row is a new record.

I am trying to use the methods used in com_content on the front end. My problem is that when a row says it is "saved" by the message "Item successfully saved" it is really not saved to the db at all. A new record does get saved correctly.

Here's what I've done:

in the link to edit page:

<a href="<?php echo JRoute::_('index.php?option=com_biblestudy&view=message&layout=form&task=message.edit&a_id=' . (int) $item->id); ?>">

(So I use a-id for the id)

Then in the controller for the edit form:

public function edit($key = null, $urlVar = 'a_id')
    {
        $result = parent::edit($key, $urlVar);
        return $result;
    }

public function save($key = null, $urlVar = 'a_id')
    {
   
            $result = parent::save($key, $urlVar);
            return $result;
    }

And in the model:

 protected function populateState() {
        $app = JFactory::getApplication('site');
        // Adjust the context to support modal layouts.
        if ($layout = JRequest::getVar('layout')) {
            $this->context .= '.' . $layout;
        }
        // Load state from the request. We use a_id to avoid collisions with the router
        $pks = JRequest::getInt('a_id');
        if ($pks) {
            $this->pks = $pks;
        }
        $this->setState('message.id', $pks);
    }

 public function save($data) {
        $pks = JRequest::getInt('a_id');
        if ($pks) {
            $this->setTopics($pks, $data);
            return true;
        } elseif (parent::save($data)) {
            $this->setTopics(JRequest::getInt('a_id'), $data);
            return true;
        }
    }

What am I missing? The row is not saved to the database.

Thanks!

Tom