Yii - getActiveFormWidget() returns wrong type in core?

I am only trying to create a non-AJAX registration form.

When I submit through a CForm, PHP says error() is being called on a non-object. I checked the source file where the error occurred and (using var_dump(get_class($parent->getActiveFormWidget()));) found that getActiveFormWidget() returns a CFormInputElement, which does not have error() defined.

I thought this had to do with CForm::activeForm, but it defaulted to CActiveForm.

I did try 'enableAjaxValidation'=>false.

What am I not understanding? I suspect I misinterpreted something along the way.

CFormInputElement::renderError():

public function renderError()
{
    $parent=$this->getParent();

    // $parent->getActiveFormWidget() returns object that does not define error()

    return $parent->getActiveFormWidget()->error($parent->getModel(), $this->name, $this->errorOptions, $this->enableAjaxValidation, $this->enableClientValidation);
}

Model:

class RegisterFormModel extends CFormModel {

    public $email;
    public $password;
    public $password_confirm;

    public function rules()
    {
        return array(
            array('email, password, password_confirm', 'required'),
            array('password','compare','compareAttribute'=>'password_confirm'),
            array('password, password_confirm','length','min'=>'6','max'=>'20'),
            array('email', 'email'),
            array('email', 'length', 'max'=>256)
        );
    }

    public function attributeLabels()
    {
        return array(
            'email'=>'Email',
            'password'=>'Password',
            'password_confirm'=>'Confirm Password',
        );
    }
}

View:

<div class="form">
<?php echo $form; ?> 
</div><!-- form -->

Controller Action:

class RegisterAction extends CAction
{
    public function run()
    {
        $register_model = new RegisterFormModel;

        $controller = $this->getController();

        $form = new CForm(array(
            'title'=>'Register',
            'enableAjaxValidation'=>false,
            'elements'=>array(
                'email'=>array(
                    'type'=>'text',
                    'maxlength'=>256,
                ),
                'password'=>array(
                    'type'=>'password',
                    'minlength'=>6,
                    'maxlength'=>32,
                ),
                'password_confirm'=>array(
                    'type'=>'password',
                    'minlength'=>6,
                    'maxlength'=>32,
                ),
            ),

            'buttons'=>array(
                'register'=>array(
                    'type'=>'submit',
                    'label'=>'Register',
                ),
            ),
        ), $register_model);

        if($form->submitted('register', true) && $form->validate())
        {
            // ...
        }
        else
        {
            $controller->render('register', array('model'=>$register_model, 'form'=>$form));    
        }
    }    
}

Well, I have never seen using CForm as you show us.

I recommend you to use the active form widget,

http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/195/implementing-a-registration-process-using-the-yii-user-management-module/

and you need to define all those fields in your CFormModel. This way you will be able to provide proper validation for them.