CakePHP installing and Making a small application

Downloading CakePHP

https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/tags
OR
http://cakephp.org/

download the file and place it in working folder ie, 
in windows
drive/wamp/www/place_folder(eg: cakephp)
in linux
/opt/lampp/htdocs/cakephp

Naming Conventios

Table names are plural and lowercased .

model names are singular and CamelCased: ModelName, model filenames are singular and underscored: model_name.php .

controller names are plural and CamelCased with *Controller* appended: ControllerNamesController, controller filenames are plural and underscored with *controller* appended: controller_names_controller.php  .

Give permission to folder

HTTPDUSER=`ps aux | grep -E '[a]pache|[h]ttpd|[_]www|[w]ww-data|[n]ginx' | grep -v root | head -1 | cut -d\  -f1`
setfacl -R -m u:${HTTPDUSER}:rwx app/tmp
setfacl -R -d -m u:${HTTPDUSER}:rwx app/tmp 

Getting Start with CakePHP

folder structure

/cakephp(my_foler_name)
    /app

             /congig

             /controller

             /model

             /view

             /temp

             /lib                //less folder only given
    /lib
    /plugins
    /vendors
    .htaccess
    index.php
    README 

CakePHP database configration

/app/Config/database.php.default. Make a copy of this file in
the same directory, but name it database.php.

cakephp/app/Config/database.php (if database.php is not there create new file) 

public $default = array(
 'datasource' => 'Database/Mysql',
 'persistent' => false,
 'host' => 'localhost',                        //hostname
 'port' => '',
 'login' => 'root',                                //username
 'password' => '',                              //password
 'database' => 'cakephp',               //database name
 'schema' => '',
 'prefix' => '',
 //'encoding' => 'utf8',
);

Creating database

First we will create a table in our database for example:

CREATE TABLE `categories` (

  `id` INTEGER(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,

  `name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,

  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)

) ENGINE=MyISAM

>>   table names are in plural 

Creating Model for table

1. create a model for the table `categories`

2. path  >>   /app/model/Category.php

Example code

<?php

class Category extends AppModel {

    var $name = 'Category';

}

?>

>> naming convention for models is that file and class names are in singular

explanation:
extended CakePHP’s AppModel class and declared a variable $name which will be used from our Controller to access the model’s functions.

Creating Controller

1. path >>  /app/controllers/CategoriesController.php

 

 Example code

<?php
class CategoriesController extends AppController {

    var $name = 'Categories';

    public $helpers = array('Html', 'Form');

    function index() {
        $this->set('categories', $this->Category->find('all'));
    }
}
?>

 explanation:

>>  We are extending AppController class, declaring $name variable.

>>  added function called index(). The controller functions are called actions. 

>> 'categories'  table name

>>  By defining function index() in our CategoriesController, users can now access the logic there by requesting www.example.com/categories/index or in localhost  >> localhost/categories/index

>>  $this->set('categories', $this->Category->find('all')); 

This is to selecting all categories from categories table and assigning the resulting array to categories variable. This variable will be available in our index view 

>>  plural controller names.

Creating routes

create readable, understandable action names. You can map URLs to your code

Creating View

create folder Categories this folder name controller name case sensitive.

1. path >>  /app/views/Categories/index.ctp

2. Create a file index.ctp in /app/views/Categories/index.ctp , Ctp(CakeTemplatePHP) files are CakePHP template files.

 references http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/views.html#view-templates

 Example code

<h1>Categories</h1>

<?php echo $this->Html->link('Add Category',array('controller' => 'categories', 'action' => 'add')); ?>

<table>

    <tr>

        <th>Id</th>

        <th>Title</th>

    </tr>

    <?php foreach ($categories as $category): ?>

    <tr>

        <td><?php echo $category['Category']['id']; ?></td>

        <td>

            <?php echo $this->Html->link($category['Category']['name'],

array('controller' => 'categories', 'action' => 'view', $category['Category']['id'])); ?>

        </td>

    </tr>

    <?php endforeach; ?>

</table>

 $html This code generates a link to /categories/view/category_id

 to run file http://localhost/cakephp/categories

Creating Add category

create add.ctp file inside  path >>  /app/views/Categories/index.ctp 

<!-- File: /app/views/categories/add.ctp -->       

<h1>Add Category</h1>

<?php

echo $this->form->create('Category');

echo $this->form->input('name');

echo $this->form->end('Save Post');

?>

create() --> If create() is called with no parameters supplied, it assumes you are building a form  that submits to the current controller’s add() action (or edit() action when id is included in the form data), via POST.

$form->input() --> used to create form elements of the same name.

         >  The first parameter tells  which field they correspond to

         >  second parameter allows to specify a wide array of options(number of rows for the  textarea)
echo $this->Form->input('password', array('type'=>'password'));

$form->end() -->  call generates a submit button and ends the form

 in controller 

<?php
class CategoriesController extends AppController {

    var $name = 'Categories';
     public $helpers = array('Html', 'Form');
    
    function index() {
        $this->set('categories', $this->Category->find('all'));
    }
    function add() {
        if (!empty($this->data)) {
            if ($this->Category->save($this->data)) {
                $this->Session->setFlash('Your category has been saved.');
                $this->redirect(array('action' => 'index'));
            }
        }
    }
}
?>

add in to view/Category/index.cpt

<?php echo $this->Html->link('Add Category',array('controller' => 'categories', 'action' => 'add')); ?>

the link to add category 

http://localhost/cakephp/categories