The Bakery Everything CakePHP

For this tutorial I used bake or masterbake for generating the code. The Bake- or Masterbake-script do not always generated the code for the model with the right relationships. So first I bake the model. Secondly I modify the model by hand. Then I bake the rest of the code. And finally I modify the code with references to the right array or variable.

This tutorial shows parts of the generated and tweaked code for the

1. database definition
2. the code for the model
3. the code for the controller
4. the view

1 database definition

The database-table in this tutorial references itself also. A nic (network interface) can have a relation with another nic, a parent nic. Or the other way around, a nic can have a relation ship with zero, one or more nics, child nics.

Check out the table definition....
Download code
CREATE TABLE nics (
  id SMALLINT(6) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  parent_id SMALLINT(6), 
  Nic_name VARCHAR(8) NOT NULL,
  Nic_type VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
  Nic_mac VARCHAR(17) NOT NULL,
  alias_address_count TINYINT(4) NOT NULL,
  slave_nic_count TINYINT(4) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY(id),
  INDEX nic_info_FKIndex1(parent_id),
  FOREIGN KEY(parent_id)
    REFERENCES nics(id)
      ON DELETE CASCADE
);
As you see, the reference to a parent-nic, a record of database-tabel itself, is done with the column parent_id.

2 The model

The code of the model for the table nics is...

Model Class:

Download code <?php 
class Nic extends AppModel {

 var $name = 'Nic';
 var $validate = array(
        'machine_id' => VALID_NOT_EMPTY,
        'Nic_name' => VALID_NOT_EMPTY,
             );
 var $displayField = 'Nic_name'; 
    
 var $belongsTo = array(
        'Parentnic' =>
            array('className' => 'Nic',
                  'foreignKey' => 'parent_id'
        ),
     );

 var $hasMany = array(
    'Childnic' =>
            array('className' => 'Nic',
          'foreignKey' => 'parent_id'
            ),
    );
}
?>
As you can see there is a belongsto-relationship to a parent-nic and a hasmany-relationship to child-nics. The name of the array show what kind of relation-ship it is. It is important tho define the belongsto-relation in order to be able to walk through the array in your controller or views in a proper way.

3 The Controller

In my application I use Masterbake. The code in the index function for building the query does not include the table-name in the where clause. So I modified that part.
I will show a part of the function index() in the controller for the table nics.

Controller Class:

Download code <?php 
...
...
 if(strlen($sql)){
 $condition_SQL [] = " " . $singular_name . "." .$field_names     [$i]." ".$sql;
    $show_searchinfo = true;
 }
...
...
?>
The function add() generates a list of nics for the add-view. The list is used to choose a nic as a parent for the nic that is being added.
The next code-snippet is a part of the function add()....

Controller Class:

Download code <?php 
...
...
    $this->set('nics', $this->Nic->generateList());
...
...
?>
The edit function() has to generate a list of nics, excluding the nic you are editing.
The next code-snippet is a part of function edit()...

Controller Class:

Download code <?php 
...
...
    $conditions = array("Nic.id" => "!= " . $id);
    $this->set('nics', $this->Nic->generateList($conditions));
...
...
?>

4 The Views

In the views you have to be sure to reference the right child or parent nic.

The add.thtml and edit.thtml reference the variable $nics.
I will show a part of the add.thtml and edit.thtml.

View Template:

Download code
...
...

 <div class="optional"> 
   <?php echo $form->labelTag('Nic/parent_id', 'Parent');?>
   <?php echo $html->selectTag('Nic/parent_id', $nics, $html->tagValue('Nic/parent_id'), array(), array(), true);?>
   <?php echo $html->tagErrorMsg('Nic/parent_id', 'Please select the Parent.') ?>
 </div>
...
...

The index.thtml just references the parent_id.

View Template:

Download code
...
...
    <td> <?php echo $html->link($nic['Nic']['Parent_id'], '/nics/view/' .$nic['Nic']['Parent_id'])?></td>
...
...

The view.thtml references the parent_id and shows a table of child nics by referencing the array for the child-nics.

View Template:

Download code
...
...
    <dt>Parent</dt>
    <dd> <?php echo $html->link($nic['Nic']['parent_id'], '/nics/view/' .$nic['Nic']['parent_id'])?></dd>
    ...    
    ...    
    ...    
    <div class="related">
    <h3>Related Child Nics</h3>
    <?php if(!empty($nic['Childnic'])):?>
    <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
    <tr>
    <?php foreach($nic['Childnic']['0'] as $column => $value): ?>
    <th><?php echo $column?></th>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
    <th>Actions</th>
    </tr>
    <?php foreach($nic['Childnic'] as $Childnic):?>
    <tr>
        <?php foreach($Childnic as $column => $value):?>
            <td><?php echo $value;?></td>
        <?php endforeach;?>
        <td class="actions">
            <?php echo $html->link('View', '/nics/view/' . $Childnic['id']);?>
            <?php echo $html->link('Edit', '/nics/edit/' . $Childnic['id']);?>
            <?php echo $html->link('Delete', '/nics/delete/' . $Childnic['id'], null, 'Are you sure you want to delete: id ' . $Childnic['id'] . '?');?>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
    </table>
    <?php endif; ?>


Bottom line

The most important lesson of this tutorial is that you have to setup your model in a proper way; defining the hasmany-relation and the child-relation. Secondly, in the rest of your code you have to reference the right array (parent or child).