Welcome to LearnCakePHP’s documentation!¶

Introduction¶

Installation¶

Install XAMPP, change port to 81
Web server is in c->xampp->htdocs which is the place where the program will run through localhost:81
Download Composer.phar by using the following console command line in the htdocs directory

php -r "readfile('https://getcomposer.org/installer');" | php
php composer.phar create-project --prefer-dist cakephp/app myblog

If Composer is installed globally in the machine by using composer.exe then use the following comand line in the htdocs directory

composer create-project --prefer-dist cakephp/app myblog

Note

This command will create a folder in htdocs called myblog with the required files to run a CakePHP project
To run the app go to localhost:81/myblog

Naming Conventions¶

Files and class names
- Filenames are underscored (my_cake_class.php)
- Class names are CamelCased (MyCaseClass)
- Controller class names and files end with “controller”
Models & Databases
- Model class name are singular and CamelCased (User)
- Table names corresponding to models are plural and underscored(users)
- You can use inflector to check singular and plural words(category and categories)
- Foreign keys are recognized by default as the singular name of the related table followed by _id (user_id)
- Tables where models interact will require a singular primary key to uniquely identify each row
Controllers
- Controller class names are plural and CamelCased and ends with “controller” (UsersController)
- Index() is the default method in a controller
- yourapp.com/welcome will call the welcome controller and the index() method
Views
- Template files should be named after the controller functions that they display
- The doThis() function of the UsersController class looks for a template in src/Template/Users/do_this.ctp
Example
- Database table: “articles”
- Table class: ArticlesTable, found at src/Model/Table/ArticlesTable.php
- Entity class: Article, found at src/Model/Entity/Article.php
- Controller class: ArticlesController, found at src/Controller/ArticlesController.php
- View template, found at src/Template/Articles/index.ctp

Routing¶

Routing maps URLs to controller actions

Routing helps URLs look much better and perform better in search engines

Apache’s mod_rewrite is not required for routing but makes things look neater

Default route pattern: http://example.com/controller/action/param1/param2..

Helpers¶

Helpers are component-like classes for the presentation layer of the application
Presentation logic is shared between views or layouts
To use a helper, add it to the controller’s helpers array
var $helpers = array(‘Form’,’Html’,’Javascript’,’Time’);

Helpers List
Ajax	Number	XML	Cache
Paginator	Form	RSS	HTML
Session	JS	Text	Javascript
Time

Components¶

Components are packages of logic shared between Controllers
CakePHP comes with a core set of components that can be loaded into the controller at any time
Components usually have some sort of configuration in the $components array of the controller’s beforeFilter() method

Core Components
Security	Authentication	Sessions
Request Handler	Access Control list	Emails
Cookies

Plugins¶

CakePHP allows you to combine controllers, models and views together to package as a “plugin” that others can use in their Cake applications
Plugins are tied to an application only by configuration. Otherwise, plugins operate in their own space.
Stored in /app/plugins

Scaffolding¶

Scaffolding allows developers to generate a very basic application that can perform CRUD(create, read, update and delete) operations
Scaffolding just needs a model and controller
Scaffolding is great for development or just to get something up and running but using it too much will cause a loss of flexibility

Connect to Database¶

Go to localhost:81/phpmyadmin
Create a new user with password and all privileges
Create a Database called myblog
Create one table called posts with 7 columns

Insert some data into posts table
In the project folder go to config->app.php and in approximately line 230 start changing user name with user from phpmyadmin with the corresponded password and change the name of database to myblog

Routing¶

Routing allows us to map URLs to specific controller actions
Routes are defined in the config/routes.php
There are 2 interfaces to define a rout:

1- Scoped Builder (Recommended)¶

<?php
Router::scope('/users', function($routes)
{
    $routes->connect('/',['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'index']);
});

2- Static Method¶

<?php
Router::connect('/users',['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'index']);

Simple Route¶

<?php
$routes->connect('/users',['controller'=>'Users','action'=>'index']);
//this will execute the index() method inside of the Users controller

<?php
$routes->connect('/users',['controller'=>'Users']);
//this will do the same thing because index() is the default action

Passing Parameters¶

<?php
Router::connect(
'/users/:id',
['controller'=>'Users', 'action'=>'view'],
['id'=>'\d+','pass'=>['id']] //'\d+' is a regular expression that will validate that the id is a digit
);

Wildcard¶

<?php
$routes->connect(
    '/listings/*',
    ['controller'=>'Listings','action'=>'display']
);

Note

Use the * to specify a Wildcard
The above Wildcard will take /listings/[anything] to the display() method of the Listings controller
You can also use ** to capture the remainder of a URL as a single passed argument

Route Elements¶

Specifying route elements allows you to define places in the URL where parameters for controller actions should lie

<?php
$routes->connect(
'/:controller/:id',
['action'=>'view'],
['id'=>'[0-9]+']  //regular expression [0-9]
);

This will allow you to view models from any controller with a URL like /controllername/:id

Special Route elements¶

Controller	Action	Plugin	Prefix
_ext	_base	_scheme	_host
_port	_full	_ssl	_method
name

Named Elements¶

You can use named routes to make calling them more convenient as well as boost performance a bit

<?php
$routes->connect('/login',
    ['controller'=>'Users','action'=>'login'],
    ['_name'=>'login]
);
//Generate a URL
$url = Router::url(['_name'=>'login]);
//with query strings
$url = Router::url(['_name'=>'login','username'=>'jimmy']);

Route Prefixes¶

Specifying route elements allows you to define places in the URL where parameters for controller actions should lie

<?php
Router::prefix('admin',function($routes){
    $routes->connect('/create',['controller'=>'Posts','action'=>'create']);
});

Now we can go to /admin/create to create a new Posts

Plugin Routes¶

You can create special routes for plugins

<?php
Router::plugin('MyPlugin',function($routes){
    $routes->connect('/:controller');
});

Routes connected above will automatically have the prefix of ‘/my_plugin’

Dashed Route¶

Dashed Route can be used to format URLs to use dashes

<?php
Router::plugin('ToDo',['path'=>'to-do'],function($routes){
$routes->fallbacks('DashedRoute');
});

File Extensions¶

<?php
Router::extensions(['html','json']);
//this will allow you to use the .html or .json extensions in your routes
//you can also set extensions per scope
Router::scope('/api',function($routes){
    $routes->extensions(['json','xml']);
});

Restful Routes¶

You can easily generate RESTful routes with the Router

<?php
Router::scope('/',function($routes){
    $routes->extensions([json']);
    $routes->resources('Posts');
});

Nested resources¶

Once resources are in a scope, you can connect sub-resource routes as well

<?php
Router::scope('/api',function($routes){
    $routes->resources('Posts',function($routes){
        $routes->resources('Comments');
    });
});

Note

/api/posts/:id/Comments /api/posts/:id/Comments/:id

Controllers¶

Controllers hold the actions that your routes are mapped to
Controllers are responsible for:
- The interpretation of any request data
- Making sure the right models are called
- Making sure the right response or view is rendered
Tour models should be fat and your Controllers thin
Doing this will help your code be more reusable and also makes it easier to test

Naming Conventions¶

Files should end in “Controller” (UsersController.php)
Classes should also end in Controller (UsersController)
Named after the primary model (User)

AppController Class¶

All controllers you create will extend the AppController Class
Location is src/Controller/AppController.php
You can use the “initializer()” method in your controller class to use a constructor
AppController extends Cake/Controller/Controller

The Request Object¶

The CakePHP router use connecting routes to find and create the controller instance
The request data is stored in the request object
Access using the $this->request property

Controller Setup¶

<?php
namespace App\Controller;
use App\Controller\AppController;
class BooksController extends AppController{
    public function index(){
        /Action code
    }
    public function view($id){
        //Action code
    }
    public function search($query){
        //Action code
    }
}

Passing View data¶

Controller::set() is used to pass data from the controller to the view

$this->set('firstName','John');
$this->set('lastName','Doe');

Because of CakePHP strict conventions, you co not need to render the view manually
In View:

<?php
My name is <?=h($firstName)?> <?=h($lastName)?>
//h is a helper function

View Options¶

You can set specific view options using viewBuilder()

<?php
$this->viewBuilder()
    ->helper(['MyHelper'])
    ->theme('SomeTheme')
    ->className

You can use the correct naming conventions and the view will be rendered automatically but to do it manually, use:

<?php
$this->render()
//or specify a view
$this->render('someView')

Handling Redirects¶

The most common way to redirect would be to use Controller::redirect()

<?php
return $this->redirect(
    ['controller'=>'Users','action'=>'register']
    );

Relative and Absolute Paths:

<?php
return $this->redirect('/orders/thanks');
return $this->redirect('http://www.example.com');

Go back to referrer:

<?php
return $this->redirect($this->referrer());

Actions and Model loading¶

To redirect to another action on the same controller:

<?php
$this->setAction('index');

Load a model table that is not the controller default

<?php
$this->loadModel('Articles');
$recentArticles = $this->Articles->find('all', [
    'limit'=>5,
    'order'=>'Articles.created DESC'
]);

Model Pagination¶

Use the $paginate attribute to easily page result from the model

<?php
class PostController extends AppController
{
    public $paginate = [
        'Post'=>[
            'conditions'=>['published'=>1]
        ]
    ];
}

Loading Components & Helpers¶

Define components in the controller’s initialize() function:

<?php
public function initialize(){
    parent::initialize();
    $this->loadComponent('Csrf');
    $this->loadComponent('Comments', Configure::read('Comments'));
}

Load Helpers:

<?php
public $helpers = ['Form','Html'];

Life-Cycle Callbacks¶

beforeFilter(Event $event) is executed before every action in the controller. Useful for session and permission operations.
beforeRender(Event $event) is executed after the action logic
AfterFilter(Event $event) is executed after controller action and after render is complete

Controller & Route Example¶

Go to url localhost:81/myblog/posts and it will through an error asking to create PostsController class in src/Controller/PostsController.php with the following code:

<?php
namespace App\Controller;
use App\Controller\AppController;
class PostsController extends AppController
{

}

Create PostsController.php file in src/Controller folder and but the above code in it
Now if you go to the url it will ask for an index function inside PostsController class

<?php
namespace App\Controller;
use App\Controller\AppController;
class PostsController extends AppController
{
    public function index()
    {

    }
}

Now CakePHP will ask for a view for the PostsController::index() in src/Template/Post/index.ctp but we will change the Route
Go to config/routes.php to add a route

<?php
Router::scope('/posts', function(RouteBuilder $routes){
    $routes->connect('/',
        ['controller' => 'Posts']
    );
});

To test that the route is working add the following code to the PostsController index action then go to url localhost:81/myblog/posts

<?php
die('This is the posts/index');

Note

die function will stop the execution of the program at this point and without it the program will proceed to need a view for the controller

Note that you can use a constructor code to run a code as soon as AppController start

<?php
public function initialize(){
    die('This is the initialize constructor for AppController');
}

Note

initialize() function will override index() function

Now we will pass a parameter after post url and use it in the controller:

In routes.php add the following code:

<?php
Router::scope('/posts/:id', function($routes){
    $routes->connect('/',
    ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'view'],
    ['id'=>'\d+', 'pass' => ['id']] //the \d+ is a regular expression for validation
    );
});

In PostsController.php add the following code:

<?php
public function view($id){
    die('This is post '.$id);
}

Note that you have to comment the initialize function that we have created before or it will override this function
Now if you go to url localhost:81/myblog/post/1 it will show This is post 1
The following code are in the same scope (posts) and should be modified:

<?php
Router::scope('/posts', function(RouteBuilder $routes){
$routes->connect('/',
    ['controller' => 'Posts']
    );
});

Router::scope('/posts/:id', function($routes){
    $routes->connect('/',
    ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'view'],
    ['id'=>'\d+', 'pass' => ['id']]
    );
});

Modified to:

<?php
Router::scope('/posts', function(RouteBuilder $routes){
    $routes->connect('/',
        ['controller' => 'Posts']
    );
    $routes->connect('/:id',
    ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'view'],
    ['id'=>'\d+', 'pass' => ['id']]
    );
});

Add create and edit route to the post scope

In routes.php add the following code

<?php

    $routes->connect('/create',
        ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'create']
    );
    $routes->connect('edit/:id',
        ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'edit'],
        ['id' => '\d+', 'pass' => ['id']]
    );

In PostsController.php add the following code

<?php
public function edit($id){
    die('editing post '.$id);
}
public function create(){
    die('create post');
}

This will add url localhost:81/myblog/edit/<any number> and localhost:81/myblog/create

Query String¶

To get the a parameter from url like localhost:81/myblog/posts/hello?name=mike
- In PostsController.php add the following code:
<?php public function hello(){ die('hello '.$this->request->query['name']); //or //die('hello '.$this->request['url']['name']); }
- And add the following code to routes.php inside posts scope
<?php $routes->connect('/hello', ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action', => 'hello'] );
- Now if you go to url localhost:81/myblog/posts/hello?name=mike will get hello mike
And for multiple parameter in a url like localhost:81/myblog/posts/hello?name=mike&age=34 use the following code for the hello() function

<?php
public function hello(){
    //print_r($this->request->query);
    //or for more info about parameters
    print_r($this->request->params);
    die();
}

And to know if the request is a post or get use the following in the hello() function

<?php
if($this->request->is('post')){
    die('This is a POST');
} elseif($this->request->is('get')){
    die('This is a GET');
}

And to get path information use the following in hello() function

<?php
//die($this->request->webroot); //will output: /myblog/
die($this->request->base); //will output: /myblog
die($this->request->hear); //will output: /myblog/posts/hello
die($this->request->header('User-Agent')); //will output: agent information

Router Prefixes¶

Adding prefix for admin localhost:81/myblog/admin add the following code to routes.php

Router::prefix('admin', function($routes){
    $routes->connect('/', ['controller' => 'Dashboard']);
    $routes->connect('/create', ['controller' => 'Posts', 'action' => 'create']);
});

Now if you go to localhost:81/myblog/admin it will ask for DashboardController.php which we will add to a new folder in src/Controller folder called Admin
Also create PostsController.php in the same folder
- DashboardController.php
<?php namespace App\Controller\Admin; // note the Admin namespace point to the Admin folder use App\Controller\AppController; class DashboardController extends AppController { public function index(){ die('Dashboard'); } }
- PostsController.php
<?php namespace App\Controller\Admin; // note the Admin namespace point to the Admin folder use App\Controller\AppController; class PostsController extends AppController { public function create(){ die('Admin creating Post'); } }
- So now if you go to localhost:81/myblog/admin you will get Dashboard and if you go to localhost:81/myblog/admin/create you will get Admin Creating Post
Note

Note that if you change the route to scope instead of prefix you will get create post which is the result for PostsController.php that belong to the Controller folder not the one belongs to Admin folder and this is the diffident between scope and prefix where prefix will look for a controller within a sub-namespace which in this case is the Admin folder

Views & Templates¶

What is a View?¶

Views are responsible for generating and displaying the output of an application
Everything that the user sees is output from a view/view template

View Forms¶

Views can be displayed as different forms with different extensions
some of the most common types are:

HTML	XML
JSON	RSS

Anatomy of the view layer¶

Views - Templates that hold the presentation logic of an application
Elements - Small, reusable bits of code rendered inside views
Layouts - Template wrapper code. Most views are rendered inside of a layout
Helpers - Classes that encapsulate view logic that can be used in many areas of the application like date formatter or currency formatter

AppView¶

All application have a default AppView class which is located in src/View/AppView.php
AppView can be used to load helpers that can be used in all of an application’s views. Use “initialize()” for this

View Templates¶

By default, templates are in PHP and use a special file extension called ”.ctp”(CakePHP Template)
These files contain representational logic and are stored in “src/Template”
Templates should be named after the controller action that it corresponds to (eg. src/Template/Posts/view.ctp)

View Variables¶

Variables can be set in a controller and passed on to a view using “set()”

<?php
$this->set('name','John');

You can then use the “name” variable in the view

<?php
<p>My name is <?=name?></p>

Variable data can easily be escaped using “h()”

<?php
<p>My name is <?=h(name)?></p> // this is for security

Extending Views¶

Views can be wrapped in another by using view extending. This allows us to follow DRY(Don’t Repeat Yourself) principles

<?php
<h1><?=$this->fetch('title')?></h1>
<?=$this->fetch('content')?>

<div> class="actions">
    <h3>User Actions</h3>
    <?=$this->fetch('sidebar')?>
</div>
//title, content and sidebar are files in another folder

View Blocks¶

Using view blocks, we can define blocks in our views that will be defined somewhere else
This is ideal for things like sidebars, footers, etc

<?php
$this->start('sidebar');
echo $this->element('sidebar/recent_posts');
echo $this->element('sidebar/recent_comments');
$this->end();

Layouts¶

Layouts are templates that wrap another template and contain code that can be displayed on all pages/view
The default layout is at src/Templates/Layouts/default.ctp

<?php
<?=$this->fetch('content')?>
//displays the content from the current rendered view

set the title with

<?php
<?=$this->assign('title','Welcome');?>

Elements¶

Elements are small bits of view code that can be re-used from page to page
This would be things like ad boxes, navigation, sliders, etc
Can be considered a mini-view

<?php
echo $this->element('navbar');

Can add a second param to pass values

Custom View Classes¶

You can add custom classes for new types of data view
Classes go in “src/View”
Should be suffixed with View (eg. pdfView)
When referencing a view class, do not use “View”

<?php
$builder->viewClass('pdf');

Themes¶

Themes are plugins that focus on providing template files. They are used to switch the look of the page quickly and easily
Set the theme name in the beforeRender() callback in the controller

<?php
class PostController extends AppController{
    public function beforeRender(Event $event){
        $this->viewBuilder()->theme('Modern');
    }
}

JSON & XML Views (Data Views)¶

JsonView & XmlView allow us to create JSON & XML responses
You must enable RequestHandlerComponent

<?php
$this->loadComponent('RequestHandler');

You can generate these either by using the _serialize key of by just creating normal template files

Views Example¶

First change the homepage to be post instead of default by changing the route of default home page in routes.php

<?php
Router::scope('/', function ($routes){
    $routes->connect('/', ['controller'=> 'Posts', 'action' => 'index', 'home']);
}

Create a new folder in src/Template directory called Posts and inside it a new file called index.ctp
In PostsController.php make sure that index do not contain die function or the program will stop executing before reaching Posts view
Add the following code to index

<div class = "row">
    <div class="columns large-3 medium-4">
        <h3>sidebar</h3>
    </div>
    <div class="columns large-9 medium-8">
        <h1>Main Content</h1>
    </div>
</div>

Now we will remove Documentation and API links and replace it with Home link by going to src/Template/Layout/default.ctp and modify with the following code

Remove the following code:

<li><a target="_blank" href="http://book.cakephp.org/3.0/">Documentation</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://api.cakephp.org/3.0/">API</a></li>

And modify top-bar-section class as follows:

<div class="top-bar-section">
    <ul class="right">
        <li><?php echo $this->Html->link('Home','/');?></li>
    </ul>
</div>

Note

You can specify the link with this code

<li><a target="Home" href="http://localhost:81/myblog/">Home</li>

Now we will get a value from the controller to the view

In PostsController.php add the following code to index function

<?php
$this->set('person', 'John');

In index.ctp in Template/Posts folder add the following code in one of the columns

<?php
<h1><?= $person </h1>

This is another example in PostsController.php add the following code to index function

<?php
$people = ['Mike', 'Paul', 'Jeff', 'Michelle'];
$this->set('people', $people);

In index.php add the following code to one of the div

<?php
 <ul>
    <?php foreach($people as $person){ ?>
        <li><?= $person ?></li>
    <?php } ?>
</ul>

Another example to get values from a multidimensional array, add the following code to PostsController.php

<?php
    $posts = [
        ['id' => 1, 'title' => 'First Post', 'body' => 'This is my first post'],
        ['id' => 2, 'title' => 'second Post', 'body' => 'This is my second post'],
        ['id' => 3, 'title' => 'third Post', 'body' => 'This is my third post'],
    ];
    $this->set('posts', $posts);

In index.ctp add the following code

<?php foreach($posts as $post) { ?>
    <div>
        <h4><?= $post['title'] ?></h4>
        <p><?= $post['body'] ?></p>
    </div>
    <hr>
<?php } ?>

An another example we will work with the view method in PostsController.php so first we have to create a new file in Template/Post folder called view.ctp
Then add the following code to view method in PostsController.php

<?php
$post = [
    'id' => $id,
    'title' => 'First Post',
    'body' => 'This is my first post'
];
$this->set('post', $post);

Note

We have previously made a route for this functionality in routes.php posts scope

<?php
$routes->connect('/:id',
    ['controller'=>'Posts', 'action'=>'view'],
    ['id'=>'\d+', 'pass' => ['id']]
);

And in view.ctp add the following code

<div class = "row">
    <div class="columns large-3 medium-4">
        <h3>sidebar</h3>
    </div>
    <div class="columns large-9 medium-8">
        <h1><?= $post['title'] ?></h1>
        <p><?= $post['body'] ?></p>
    </div>
</div>

Now if you go to localhost:81/myblog/posts/1 you will get the results

Note

in index.ctp you can make a link for each of the id by using the following code

<h4><?= $this->Html->link($post['title'], '/posts/'.$post['id']) ?></h4>

Component and Helpers¶

Component¶

Add a new file in controller folder Called DevsController.php with the following code

<?php
namespace App\Controller;
use App\Controller\AppController;

class DevsController extends AppController
{
    public function index()
    {

    }
}

In Template folder add a new folder called Devs and inside create a new file called index.ctp

<?php
echo 'Devs';
//go to localhost:81/myblog/devs to see the result

Create BlogComponent.php file in Controller/Component folder with the following code:

<?php
namespace App\Controller\Component;
use Cake\Controller\Component;

class BlogComponent extends Component
{
    public function sayHello()
    {
        return 'Hello';
    }
}

In PostController.php add the following code:

Create initialize() function

<?php
public function initialize()
{
    $this->loadComponent('Blog');
}

In index() function add the following code

<?php
die($this->Blog->sayHello());

Now if you go to url localhost:81/myblog/posts will return Hello

Note

Because we have created a route from default page to PostController we will get the same result by going to url localhost:81/myblog

Now remove die() function from PostsController() and add the following code to BlogComponent.php

<?php
public function getPosts()
{
    $posts = [
                ['id' => 1, 'title' => 'First Post', 'body' => 'This is my first post'],
                ['id' => 2, 'title' => 'second Post', 'body' => 'This is my second post'],
                ['id' => 3, 'title' => 'third Post', 'body' => 'This is my third post'],
            ];
    return $posts;
}

Change PostController.php to be as follows:

<?php
private $posts;
public function initialize()
{
    $this->loadComponent('Blog');
    $this->posts = $this->Blog->getPosts();
}

Add the following code to DevsController.php

<?php
private $posts;
public function initialize()
{
    $this->loadComponent('Blog');
    $this->posts = $this->Blog->getPosts();
}
public function index()
{
    $this->set('posts', $this->posts);
}

Add a new component file in component directory called DevsComponent.php with the following code:

<?php
namespace App\Controller\Component;

use Cake\Controller\Component;

class DevsComponent extends Component
{
    public function generatePassword()
    {
        $password = '';
        $desired_length = rand(8,12);

        for ($length = 0; $length < $desired_length; $length++)
        {
            $password .= chr(rand(32,126));
        }
        return $password;
    }
}

And Add the following to DevsController.php

<?php
  namespace App\Controller;
  use App\Controller\AppController;

  class DevsController extends AppController
  {
      public function initialize()
      {
          $this->loadComponent('Devs');
      }
      public function index()
      {
          $this->set('password', $this->Devs->generatePassword());
      }
  }

Then add the following to Template/devs/index.ctp

<?php
<h4>Password: <?= $password ?></h4>

Helpers¶

You can find Html helpers ( $this->Html ) examples in Template/Layout/default.ctp
Also in default.ctp you can add custom style attribute by adding the following code in the <head> tag

<?PHP
<style>
    body{
        <?= $this->Html->style([
        'background' => '#000'
        ]); ?>
    }
</style>
// to generate a link use
$this->Html->link('link text', 'link location');
// to add attribute to Html helpers use the following
$this->Html->link('link text', 'link location', ['class' => 'active']);

To add an image using html helper use the following code:

in PostController.php modify view function as follows:

<?php
$post = [
    'id' => $id,
    'title' => 'First Post',
    'body' => 'This is my first post',
    //added image link
    'image' => 'http://oi63.tinypic.com/21blk5g.jpg'
];
$this->set('post', $post);

in Posts/view.ctp adde the folowing to view the image

<?= $this->Html->image($post['image'], ['alt' => 'myImage']); ?>

There are multiple helpers available like media

Nested list¶

To use nested list use the following code

In PostsController.php add the following to the view function

<?php
$languages = [
    'Languages' => [
        'English' => [
            'American',
            'Canadian',
            'British'
        ],
        'Spanish',
        'German'
    ]
];
$this->set('languages', $languages);

In Posts/view.ctp add the following to view the list

<?php
<?= $this->Html->nestedList($languages); ?>

Html Table Helper¶

Use the following code to create a table using Html table helper

<?php
<table>
    <?= $this->Html->tableHeaders(
        ['Id', 'Name', 'Email']
    ); ?>
    <?= $this->Html->tableCells([
        ['1', 'John', 'j@j.com'],
        ['2', 'Bob', 'b@b.com']
    ]); ?>
</table>

Html Form Helper¶

In Template/Layout/default.ctp add the following ling in <div class=”top-bar-section>
<?php <li><?= $this->Html->link('Create Post', '/posts/create'); ?> </li>
Create a new Template Posts folder called create.ctp with the following code:

<h3>Create Post</h3>
<?= $this->Form->create(); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('title', array(
                                'label' => 'Post Title',
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('body', array(
                                'label' => 'Post Body',
                                'type' => 'textarea',
                                'escape' => false,
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('category', array(
                                'label' => 'Categoty',
                                'type' => 'select',
                                'empty' => 'Select One',
                                'options' => ['Web Development', 'Design', 'Marketing'],
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('author', array(
                                'label' => 'Author',
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('time', [
        'type' => 'time',
        'interval' => 15
    ]); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->inputs([
        'name' => ['label' => 'Name', 'class' => 'class-name'],
        'age' => ['label' => 'Age', 'class' => 'class-name']
    ]); ?>
    <hr>
    <?= $this->Form->submit('Submit', array('class' => 'class-name')); ?>
<?= $this->Form->end(); ?>

Text Helper¶

<?= $this->Text->truncate($post['body'],196,['ellipsis' => '...', 'exact' => false]); ?>

Models & Baking¶

In src/Model/Table folder create a new file called PostsTable.php with the following code:

<?php
namespace App\Model\Table;
use Cake\ORM\Table;

class PostsTable extends Table{
    public function initialize(array $config){
        $this->addBehavior('Timestamp');
    }
}

In PostsController.php remove the code from initialize and remove private $posts function and modify index function as follows:

<?php
public function index(){
    $posts = $this->Posts->find('all');
    $this->set(compact('posts'));
}

Now to get posts of certain $id change view function in PostsController to have the following code

In PostsController.php

<?php
public function view($id){
    $posts = $this->Posts->find('all');
    $post = $this->Posts->get($id);
    $this->set(compact('posts', 'post'));
}

In View.ctp

<div class = "row">
    <div class="columns large-3 medium-4">
        <h3>sidebar</h3>
    </div>
    <div class="columns large-9 medium-8">
        <h1><?= $post['title'] ?></h1>
        <p><?= $post['body'] ?></p>
    </div>
</div>

To sort the results so the newest posts will be on top modify the index function as follows:

<?php
public function index(){
    $posts = $this->Posts->find('all', array('order' => array('created' => 'desc')));
    $this->set(compact('posts'));
}

To create a new post do the following:

PostsController.php add the following code:

<?php
public function initialize(){
    parent::initialize();
        $this->loadComponent('Flash');
    }
    public function create(){
        $post = $this->Posts->newEntity();

    if($this->request->is('post')){
        $post = $this->Posts->patchEntity($post, $this->request->data);
        if($this->Posts->save($post)){
            $this->Flash->success(__('Post Created'));
            return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
        }
        $this->Flash->error(__('Unable to save post'));
    }
    $this->set('post', $post);
}

To add timestamp to each post add the following to Template/Posts/index.ctp after the title tag:

<?php
<small><strong><?= $post['created']->format(DATE_RFC850); ?></strong></small>

Validation¶

To Add validation add the following code in the src/Model/PostsTable.php

<?php
namespace App\Model\Table;
use Cake\ORM\Table;
use Cake\Validation\Validator;

class PostsTable extends Table{
    public function initialize(array $config){
        $this->addBehavior('Timestamp');
    }
    public function validationDefault(Validator $validator){
        $validator
            ->notEmpty('title')
            ->RequirePresence('title')
            ->notEmpty('body')
            ->RequirePresence('body')
            ->notEmpty('author')
            ->RequirePresence('author')
            ->notEmpty('category')
            ->RequirePresence('category');
        return $validator;
    }
}

Update¶

To update a post add the following code to PostsController.php

<?php
public function edit($id){
    //die('create post');
    //$posts = $this->Posts->find('all');
    //$this->set(compact('posts'));

    $post = $this->Posts->get($id);

    if($this->request->is(['post', 'put'])){
        $this->Posts->patchEntity($post, $this->request->data);
        if($this->Posts->save($post)){
            $this->Flash->success(__('Post Updated'));
            return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
        }
        $this->Flash->error(__('Unable to update post'));
    }
    $this->set('post', $post);
}

Create a new file under Layout/Posts called edit.ctp with the following code which is almost same as create.ctp

<?php
<h3>Edit Post</h3>
<?= $this->Form->create($Post); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('title', array(
                                'label' => 'Post Title',
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('body', array(
                                'label' => 'Post Body',
                                'type' => 'textarea',
                                'escape' => false,
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('category', array(
                                'label' => 'Categoty',
                                'type' => 'select',
                                'empty' => 'Select One',
                                'options' => ['Web Development', 'Design', 'Marketing'],
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('author', array(
                                'label' => 'Author',
                                'class' => 'class-name'
                        )); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->input('time', [
        'type' => 'time',
        'interval' => 15
    ]); ?>
    <?= $this->Form->inputs([
        'name' => ['label' => 'Name', 'class' => 'class-name'],
        'age' => ['label' => 'Age', 'class' => 'class-name']
    ]); ?>
    <hr>
    <?= $this->Form->submit('Submit', array('class' => 'class-name')); ?>
<?= $this->Form->end(); ?>

Now edit Layout/Posts/view.ctp to have the following code:

<?php
<div class = "row">
<div class="columns large-3 medium-4">
    <h3>sidebar</h3>
</div>
<div class="columns large-9 medium-8">
   <h1><?= $post['title'] ?></h1>
   <p><?= $post['body'] ?></p>
</div>

<?= $this->Html->link('Edit Post', ['action' => 'edit', $post['id']], ['class' => 'class-name']); ?>

Delete¶

In PostsController.php add the following code:

<?php
public function delete($id){
    $this->request->allowMethod(['post', 'delete']);
    $post = $this->Posts->get($id);
    if($this->Posts->delete($post)){
        $this->Flash->success(__('Post Deleted'));
        return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
    }
}

Now in Layout/Posts/view.ctp add the following code:

<?= $this->Form->postLink('delete',
                        ['action' => 'delete', $post['id']],
                        ['confirm' => 'Are you sure?','class' => 'className']); ?>

Welcome to LearnCakePHP’s documentation!¶

Introduction¶

Installation¶

Naming Conventions¶

Routing¶

Helpers¶

Components¶

Plugins¶

Scaffolding¶

Connect to Database¶

Routing¶

1- Scoped Builder (Recommended)¶

2- Static Method¶

Simple Route¶

Passing Parameters¶

Wildcard¶

Route Elements¶

Special Route elements¶

Named Elements¶

Route Prefixes¶

Plugin Routes¶

Dashed Route¶

File Extensions¶

Restful Routes¶

Nested resources¶

Controllers¶

Naming Conventions¶

AppController Class¶

The Request Object¶

Controller Setup¶

Passing View data¶

View Options¶

Handling Redirects¶

Actions and Model loading¶

Model Pagination¶

Loading Components & Helpers¶

Life-Cycle Callbacks¶

Controller & Route Example¶

Query String¶

Router Prefixes¶

Views & Templates¶

What is a View?¶

View Forms¶

Anatomy of the view layer¶

AppView¶

View Templates¶

View Variables¶

Extending Views¶

View Blocks¶

Layouts¶

Elements¶

Custom View Classes¶

Themes¶

JSON & XML Views (Data Views)¶

Views Example¶

Component and Helpers¶

Component¶

Helpers¶

Nested list¶

Html Table Helper¶

Html Form Helper¶

Text Helper¶

Models & Baking¶

Validation¶

Update¶

Delete¶

Indices and tables¶