CakePHP - $this->request->data not working

Hi, im having problems with accessing form data in my controller. i have an if statement that checks if $this->request->data is not empty before going further but it is showing up as empty. im not sure why it is doing this so i have add my model, view and controller files.
Thanks in advance


(Controller) UsersController.php:

 public function send_invitation() {        $user = $this->Auth->user();        //echo "<pre>"; print_r($user); die;        $this->layout = "dashboard";        if (!empty($this->request->data)) {             $this->Reference->set($this->request->data);             $this->Reference->setValidation('add');               ...                         } else { echo 'no data';}          $this->set("user", $user);   }

(Model) Reference.php:

class Reference extends AppModel {         public $useTable = 'references';        public $name = 'Reference';         public $belongsTo = array('User' => array(                                      'className' => 'User',                                      'foreignKey' => 'user_id'                              ),           );         var $actsAs = array('Multivalidatable');        public $validationSets = array(          'add' => array(              'email' => array(                  'notEmpty' => array(                      'rule'     => 'notEmpty',                      'required' => true,                      'message'  => 'Please enter email.'                  ),                  'valid' => array(                      'rule'  => 'email',                      'required' => true,                      'message'  => 'Please enter valid email.'                  ),              ),              'name' => array(                  'notEmpty' => array(                      'rule'     => 'notEmpty',                      'required' => true,                      'message'  => 'Please enter name.'                  )              ),            ),      );
 }

(View) send_invitation.ctp:

<div class="dashboard-container-right">        <div class="dashboard-innerright">              <div class="upper-dashboard"><h1> <?php echo __("Send Invitations"); ?> </h1></div>               <div class="botm-forcolor">                  <div class="midd-dashord">                      <?php echo __("Your Referral Code is"); ?> <strong><?php echo $user["referral_code"];?> </strong>                       <div class="invite-content">                       <!--- Instructor Login -->                    <div class="tab-pane active" id="instructor">                         <?php echo $this->Form->create('Reference' , array('id'=>'send_invites' , 'url' => array('controller' => 'users', 'action' => 'send_invitation' ) , 'novalidate'=>'novalidate')); ?>                       <?php  $form=$this->Form;?>                      <div class="padding_15tabs">                          <div class="col-md-12  show-grid row">                  <?php $name=__("Name"); ?>                    <?php echo $form->input('Reference.name',array('class'=>'col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-lg-12 text-style', 'placeholder'=>$name, 'div' => false,'label'=>false))?>                                                           </div>                          <div class="col-md-12  show-grid row">                  <?php $email=__("Email"); ?>                      <?php echo $form->input('Reference.email',array('class'=>'col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-lg-12 text-style', 'placeholder'=>$email, 'div' => false,'label'=>false))?>                                                         </div>                              <div class="col-md-12  show-grid row">                  <?php $message=__("Message"); ?>                      <?php echo $form->textarea('Reference.message',array('class'=>'col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-lg-12 text-style', 'placeholder'=>$message, 'div' => false,'label'=>false))?>                                                              </div>                          <input type="hidden" name="data[Reference][user_id]" value="<?php echo $user['id']; ?>">                                              <div class="col-md-12  show-grid row">                              <div class="align-center">                                  <span class="span_float">                                      <input type="submit" value="<?php echo __('Invite'); ?>" class="create-account btn btn-primary"  /><br/>                                    </span>                              </div>                          </div>                        </div>                        </form>                    </div>                      </div>             </div>       </div>
</div>

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