Cook Up Web Sites Fast with CakePHP, Part 2: Bake Bigger and Better with CakePHP

Level: Intermediate

Duane O'Brien (d@duaneobrien.com), PHP developer, Freelance

12 Dec 2006
Updated 22 Jan 2008

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CakePHP is a stable production-ready, rapid-development aid for building Web sites in PHP. This "Cook up Web sites fast with CakePHP" series shows you how to build an online product catalog using CakePHP.

In this tutorial

Editor's note: This series was originally published in 2006 and 2007. Since its publication, CakePHP developers made significant changes to CakePHP, which made this series obsolete. In response to these changes and the popularity of this series, the authors revised each of its five parts to make it compliant with the version of CakePHP available in January 2008.

This tutorial shows you how to jump-start your CakePHP application using scaffolding and Bake. You will also learn the ins and outs of using CakePHP's ACLs. You'll get a look at what scaffolding is and what it provides. Then you'll learn how to use Bake to generate the code for a scaffold, letting you tweak it as you go. Finally, you will learn about ACLs: what they are, how to create them, and how to use them in your application. This tutorial builds on the online product application Tor created in Part 1.

Prerequisites

It is assumed that you are familiar with the PHP programming language, have a fundamental grasp of database design, and are comfortable getting your hands dirty. A full grasp of the MVC design pattern is not necessary, as the fundamentals will be covered during this tutorial. More than anything, you should be eager to learn, ready to jump in, and anxious to speed up your development time.

System requirements

Before you begin, you need to have an environment in which you can work. CakePHP has reasonably minimal server requirements:

1. An HTTP server that supports sessions (and preferably mod_rewrite). This tutorial was written using Apache V2.2.4 with mod_rewrite enabled.
2. PHP V4.3.2 or later (including PHP V5). This tutorial was written using PHP V5.2.3
3. A supported database engine. this tutorial was written using MySQL V5.0.4

You'll also need a database ready for your application to use. The tutorial will provide syntax for creating any necessary tables in MySQL.

The simplest way to download CakePHP is to visit CakeForge.org and download the latest stable version. This tutorial was written using V1.2.0. Nightly builds and copies straight from Subversion are also available. Details are in the CakePHP Manual.

Formats

html, pdf