Programming Conventions

Hey,

Did you ever had a look at the CakePHP Conventions? I use CakePHP also to have the same directory structure in all of my projects, but it would be much more readable if you write your code using these conventions. What do you think about conventions like this? How do you bring structure to your projects?

Also, I'm looking for the best way to use Trac and Subversion in my projects. Does anyone have any tips? Is it possible to export a SVN repository to an FTP location?

Build a photo gallery with CakePHP and Flickr

This is a nice howto from Jonathan Snook on building a photogallery with CakePHP and Flickr.

Within a few minutes and with a few lines of code and a few components he explains how you can do this, and even make use of a Lightbox to show the images. Have fun!

Use the Pages controller for static pages

You can use the pages controller for static pages like /pages/about or /pages/contact. This is a built-in controller which has some other possibilities, described at the Bakery.

TagCloud Helper

I was just having a look at The Bakery and noticed an article from Suhail about a Tagcloud Helper. I looked for something like this in the past, and it might be handy in the future. Take a look: here.

New layout

Hey, I'm back with a new layout. I hope to write some posts soon, so keep watching this site. Also, I am looking for something combining twitter and this weblog. For example, when I write this, I want my twitter feed to be updated... guess I have to write something myself.

Soft delete records, some kind of trash...

Mariano Iglesias wrote an article on the Bakery about Soft deleting records in CakePHP.

CakePHP and MSSQL

It should be possible to have CakePHP directly talking to a Microsoft SQL server, but I don't know how and didn't try it. The advantage of talking directly to MSSQL is that you can use the standard Models.

Use Google Maps in CakePHP

I found an interesting article from Mahmoud Lababidi at the Bakery on integrating Google Maps in your CakePHP application.

Beautiful PHP thumbnail class useful as vendor in CakePHP

I found a very handy thumbnailer class on written by Ian Selby. This class lets you resize your image, but it is also capable of creating the popular Apple Reflection effect.

You can very easily use this class to use it as a vendor in CakePHP.

Have fun!

Use helpers in your application

It is advised to make use of helpers in your application. Your code becomes clean and more flexible because the helpers are short and clear, and they handle the paths to the file referenced. For example, to quickly show an image in your view, use:


< ?= $html->image('9.jpg') ?>


Global functions and constants

describes some useful functions and constants. For example COMPRESS_CSS. If COMPRESS_CSS is set to true, your style sheets are compressed on output. This can be useful on websites where you need a high performance. Don't forget to make /var/cache writable for the webserver and use Controller::cssTag();

findAllBy is cool!

Suppose you have a field name in your database called type. CakePHP will automagically add a new function called findAllByType. For example, you can try: findAllByType('customer'); to find all fields with type=customer.

From the CakePHP manual:

* findAllBy
* string $value

These magic functions can be used as a shortcut to search your tables for a row given a certain field, and a certain value. Just tack on the name of the field you wish to search, and CamelCase it. Examples (as used in a Controller) might be:
$this->Post->findByTitle('My First Blog Post');
$this->Author->findByLastName('Rogers');
$this->Property->findAllByState('AZ');
$this->Specimen->findAllByKingdom('Animalia');

The returned result is an array formatted just as would be from find() or findAll().

Basic Task list with Ajax

Graham Bird has written a very nice tutorial on creating a Basic Task list with Ajax. Have a look at it here (http://grahambird.co.uk/cake/tutorials/ajax.php).

Make your code more readable

Of course, you write comments with your code... But, you can also make it more readable and logical by following the CakePHP coding standards:

debug(mixed $var, boolean $showHtml = false) can make your life easier.

Give convenience wrappers like e(), low(), up() and r() a try.

Do not forget to secure your application and use Sanitize.

After saving an object, you want to read or modify it directly, but you don't know the ID. Use the getLastInsertId function.

If you want to know the contents of an array you can use the helper function pr($array); For example try pr($this->data);