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).