Changing a users group does not change the ARO parent (effectively making it useless/impossible to change groups). I tried fixing this home-brew style, but since there’s no setParent in 1.2′s db_acl, it’s far harder than it should be.

That was reported back in 2007 and there was still no solution found in the net. It is also not an option for me to go through the above suggestion in fixing the problem so the the other solution is to find another one or create one. I chose the latter.

Why create a new one?

The other solutions that I found still needs some configuration in the controllers. Since I already have a ton of files, I don’t want to go through all of them to add a line or two. I need ACLs way of doing it all in the background. Also, I am already using Auth component and I want to keep it.

Why did I choose a text file over a database?

My intention is to make the application faster since load time is really getting slower. Since the application isn’t that big, I only have less than 200 lines for the permissions, so a database is just overkill. Even if I use a database, I might cache it anyway so it saves me extra query.

The component

So Permission Component was created. Below is the instruction on how to install it.

1. Download this component and copy to your components folder.
2. Create cake_dir/app/config/permissions.ini

The content for permissions.ini is as follows


[ControllerName]
actionName = group_id,group_id
 
[PluginName.ControllerName]
actionName = group_id,group_id


The ControllerName should be the controller name itself (in camel-case format).

The actionName is also the action name itself (in camel-case format).

The PluginName is the plugin name itself (in camel-case format).

The group_id is the one written in your Auth component. Your Auth component should have a group_id value because this is what our Permission component will look for. It could be a number or set of characters.

Example:


; Group ID 1 = Admin
; Group ID 2 = Member
[Accounts]
index =
add = 1
edit = 1,2
delete = 1,2
 
[ShoppingCart.Orders]
index =
report = 1


Assigning no group id in an actionName will simply ignore it.

Reminder

Use at your own risk. If you found a bug, please post them at the comment form.

I use bake to start any project of mine and therefore doesn’t mean that using it produces a complete app unless you only want a CRUD application.

This tutorial is intended for beginners in cakephp. It is still recommended that you look at the blog tutorial in cakephp manual because it has a more complete introduction for the framework.

Take note that I am using the Cakephp 1.2.0.7692 RC3 in demonstrating this little project because it is the latest release as of this writing.

What to do and what do we need to begin?

To start off, we need a project. I opted a mini-library application which consists of

The mini-library will store different books. Each books can have one or more authors and one or more reviews created by users. So we will have the following tables

And they have the following relationships:

Download the SQL and create your database.

Let’s start baking!

Since our topic is about baking, we will maximize the use of cake CLI. First, setup your environment so that it will accept the cake command. For Ubuntu users, it is already available in synaptic or use apt-get

sudo apt-get install cakephp1.2-scripts

For windows users, I used this tutorial for setting up Windows.

Once you have setup your environment, everything is just easy. I do not think I even need to tell you what you need to do but I still will since I already started it:P

You just need to remember this steps:

1. Create a project. This creates all the files and directories under the /app directory
2. Configure database.php. We will do that using the command line
3. Start creating your Models. As the blog tutorial mentioned, models are the bread and butter of cakephp.
4. Create your controllers
5. Finally, create your views
6. Check your new app!

So let’s start doing something and stop talking eh?

Open your command line and go to your www directory or wherever you want to create your cakephp project. Do not yet create folder for this project. So in my case, my web directory is E:\www\. Type

cake bake

It will ask you to create your project since it cannot find an existing one.

Step 1: Create project
I created mylibrary project. Here is the output.

Step 2: Configure database
Then it will ask you to create your database config. In my example, my database name is cakedemo_1.

And we’re done with the installation. If you will check your files, mylibrary folder is created in E:\www. mylibrary already contains all the necessary files and folders to start building your app. To check, go to http://localhost/mylibrary.

Do we have the same result?

There were 3 things that happened here in the background.

• In mylibrary/app/config/core.php, the Security.salt was modified
• mylibrary/app/config/database.php was created
• In mylibrary/app/webroot/index.php, CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH was changed to the absolute path of your cake core library, in my case “E:www\minilib” because this is what I entered in my Path settings (remember this tutorial?) So with this, you have a centralized cakephp core library.

There you have it, a new cakephp project! Let’s proceed.

Step 3: Create models, controllers and views
Next step is to create our library application. Again, type cake bake in your command line. The Interactive Bake Shell will appear to ask for more directions. You must ofcourse create first your models, then controllers and finally views. Afterwards, you should have the following files like mine:

If you already have that, congratulations! Your done! Visit the Books page in http://localhost/mylibrary/books/ to start adding your data.

More tricks you can try out
There are also shortcuts if you only want to create models
cake bake model

or controllers
cake bake controller

or views
cake bake view

For the next post, I’ll tackle how to set up different authentication components. Till next time. Happy Baking!

In version 1.1, what we do is utilize the bindModel() and unbindModel(). We do not declare all associations in the Model class yet. This was a good solution. I was looking for this option in version 1.2 and I found the Containable Behavior. Studying containable was a little rough before but there are documents now that are really helpful.

• Cakephp Book: Containable
• CakeBaker: New Core Behavior – Containable
• StudioCanaria: Cakephp Containable Behavior

Today, I’ll be showing you how to use Containable in pagination and in regular find method. You must have a fair understanding of the behavior so I suggest you read the above articles first. If you are ready, follow the instructions below:

1. Download the latest 1.2 release of cake. As of this writing, I tested it in cake_1.2.0.7296-rc2. Do the usual cake installation procedures.
2. Download this file and unzip. It must contain an “app” folder
3. Replace the /app from #1 with the /app from #2 but leave the config file of #1.
4. Use the /app/class.sql to setup your database

The idea of the sample is taken from a virtual school application. So we have Departments, Courses, Classes, Students and Teachers, Students Comments on Class and Students Ratings on Class. The following is an explanation of tables declared in class.sql so you can follow the relationships:

Exampe1: List of Classes

What we will do is get only the basic information for the list of classes. Those includes:

• Class title
• Course it belongs to
• Department it belongs to
• Teacher name

It will look like this (replace the http://localhost with your local address)
http://localhost/cake/my_classes/index

Let’s compare the recursive and containable method.

Using The Recursive Method
Check the MyClassesController::unfiltered_result() for your reference. First try is I added the ffg line
$this->MyClass->recursive = 1;
but the problem is that I could not get the Department name. Then I tried
$this->MyClass->recursive = 2;
and there I have all the information I need. The problem is that there are just to many data I do not need. Another option is to use the the paginate fields filter. Try adding this:
$this->paginate['MyClass']['fields'] = array( 'Course.title', 'MyClass.title' );

The result? Check it for yourself in http://localhost/cake/my_classes/unfiltered_result

Using Containable Behavior
If you look at MyClassesController::index2(), you would see the ffg:

$this->paginate['MyClass']['contain'] = array (
'Teacher',
'Course' => array (
'Department' => array (
'fields' => array (
'Department.title',
'Department.id'
)
)
)
);

That basically tells cake to find the Class Teacher and return all fields, the course it belongs to and return all the fields and finally the course’ Department title and ID. Now run this http://localhost/cake/my_classes/filtered_result and compare the result with the previous example. It became cleaner isn’t it?

With Containable, you can specify which tables to include and what fields to include each table. You can also add order and limit filters and also conditions. It took me a while to grasp the format because at first glance it is a bit difficult to follow. I use the following format:


$this->Model0->contain( array(
'Model1' => array (
'fields' => array( 'modelField1', 'modelField2' ),
'conditions' => array( 'your condition here' ),
'order' => array( 'id' => 'asc' ),
),
'Model2',
'Model2'
)
)


Example2: Class View

This is just to show you a more complicated containable query. We want to get more information about the class. That includes:

• Class title
• Course it belongs to
• Department it belongs to
• Teacher name
• Student comments that were approved and student name
• Student ratings that were approved and student name

We can achieve the desired results using recursive but then again we will be wasting so much process time. In containable, we’ll just have to declare what we want.


$this->MyClass->contain( array(
'Teacher',
'Rating' => array(
'Student',
'order' => array( 'created' => 'desc' ),
'conditions' => array( 'approved' => 1 )
),
'Comment' => array(
'Student',
'order' => array( 'RAND()' ),
'limit' => 3 ,
'conditions' => array( 'approved' => 1 )
),
'Course' => array(
'Department' => array(
'fields' => array(
'Department.title',
'Department.id'
)
)
)
)
);


Can you see the format now? Play around with the codes and check their results to get more comfortable with it. Happy Baking!

I’ve been using Model->create() for a series Model->save() calls (like in a loop) to initialize the model class for saving new information. But when I only need to do a single call to save(), I no longer call create() assuming that I’m starting with a new set of information. I was always able to get away with it until I had this bug that annoyed me for a few hours.

Long story short, I learned something: not only when doing multiple calls to Model->save(), you should also call Model->create() before saving if a previous call to Model->read() was made. Or better yet, always call Model->create() whenever you are about to save new data. There are cases the previous calls to save and read made are not that obvious, like in the beforeFilter() callbacks of the controller (or the parent::beforeFilter(), like in my case).

In order to fix that, we need to remove them. Here is quick fix. Open file jquery.rating.js:

from (line 97):

// grouping:
var n = this.name;


to:

// grouping:
var real_name = this.name;
var n = real_name.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9_\-]/g, '-'); // remove unwanted characters


from (line 108):

$.rating.groups[n].valueElem = $('
');


to:

$.rating.groups[n].valueElem = $('
');

I have reported this in the bugtracker and I hope it will be included in the next release.

Yesterday, i stumbled upon this problem on how am i suppose to create an image with a link on it. I needed to know it because of my goal. I wanted to use images as my buttons to navigate the admin pages. So without further ado, here’s how:

1. We will use HTML Helpers Image and Link, and we shall combine this 2.

2. For Image,

Syntax:

$html->image(string $path, array $htmlAttributes, boolean $return = false);

Example:

$html->image(‘/img/images/cancel.png’, array(‘class’ => ‘save_button’));

3. For Link,

Syntax:

$html->link(string $title, string $url, array $htmlAttributes, string $confirmMessage = false, boolean $escapeTitle = true, boolean $return = false);

Example:

$html->link(‘SAVE’, ‘/registers’, array(), false, false, false);

4. So to make an image clickable,

<?php echo $html->link($html->image(‘/img/images/cancel.png’,array(‘class’ => ‘save_button’)), ‘/registers’, array(), false, false, false); ?>

That’s it. I hope this will help you in the future.

I have another topic for newbies like me. I know this will help you. And this is very, very easy and it’s a common thing to do when developing websites. It’s establishing a homepage. Here’s how and this won’t take long.

1. Code your desired design. This does not require you to complete the entire html tags. Just the contents inside <body></body> would be fine.

2. Then save it as home.ctp and upload to app/views/pages.

And that’s it. You can now check your new homepage design.

1. First, design the layout that you wanted to implement and use. Assuming we have the simple code below as your desired page layout.
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

2. After having established the base, let us now put the code that will show the title of your page. We will use $title_for_layout to do the job. So your head section will now look like this:
<head>
<title><?php echo $title_for_layout?></title>
</head>

3. Next inline would be displaying the contents. We will use $content_for_layout. It will tell CakePHP where to place the code for your views. Our code now will look like this one.
<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $title_for_layout?></title>
</head>
<body>
<?php echo $content_for_layout ?>
</body>
</html>

4. Then save it as app/views/layouts/default.ctp.

Next topic would be creating and using multitle layouts for single website. Please feel free to share your views which you think can help us beginners make a step higher on CakePHP.

The Setup

We want to restrict certain actions to certain types of users. But instead of assigning permissions to each user, we just divide users into groups and assign permission to groups. Users under the same group have the same set of permission.

For this example,  we’ll be dividing users into groups namely: admin, editor and member.

Setting up the database tables

Users Table:

CREATE TABLE `users` (    

`id` INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
`username` VARCHAR( 20 ) NOT NULL ,
`password` VARCHAR( 50 ) NOT NULL ,
`group_id` TINYINT( 2 ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
PRIMARY KEY ( `id` )) ENGINE = MYISAM ;
Groups Table:

CREATE TABLE `groups` (

`id` INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT ,
`parent_id` INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`name` VARCHAR( 20 ) NOT NULL ,
PRIMARY KEY ( `id` )
) ENGINE = MYISAM ;
ACL Tables:
The sql dump for the acl table can also be found at the app/config/sql folder of your application

CREATE TABLE acos (

);

Setting up the models

After setting up the tables, we now move on to creating the models for our CakePHP application:

User model:

uses('Sanitize');
class User extends AppModel {
var $name = 'User';

// I don't know why it wasn't sanitizing my input and not
// enclosing the input in quotes. I had to do it myself
$aro->updateAll(
array('alias'=>'\''.$sanitize->escape($this->data['User']['username']).'\''),
array('Aro.model'=>'User', 'Aro.foreign_key'=>$id)
);
}
return true;
}
}
The line:
var $actsAs = array('Acl');
Sets the model to use CakePHP built-in ACL behavior. This will take care of ACL-related things when working on this model like adding/deleting the corresponding ARO node when a user is added/deleted.

When using the ACL Behavior, you need to provide a parentNode() method in your model. The parentNode() method returns the id of the parent of the current acl node. A tree structure is used to implement ACL, so you can either directly assign permission to a node or just allow a node to inherit the permissions of its parent.

I found out from Geoff’s blog (LemonCake) that the key to using groups for user permission is to set the user aros as children of the a group aro. You can do this inside the models parentNode() method:

Group Model:

// Okay, I won't be commenting on this since this almost the same
// as what you can see from the user model definition

$aro->updateAll(
array('alias'=>'\''.$sanitize->escape($this->data['Group']['name']).'\''),
array('Aro.model'=>'Group', 'Aro.foreign_key'=>$id)
);
}
return true;
}
}

Setting up the controllers

Okay now, let’s keep the code short. We won’t provide any user registration here, just a way of logging users in and out of the application.

users_controller.php:

class UsersController extends AppController {
var $name = 'Users';
// We will be using the Acl and Auth component
// The order you declare the components is
// important. Acl first before Auth or you
// will get an error message.
var $components = array('Acl', 'Auth');

}
Now that takes care of the user authentication. To use Auth w/ ACL in our controllers, we first need to include the components (of course!). Make sure that Acl goes before the Auth component or else, you’ll get an error message.

var $components = array('Acl', 'Auth');
Then, we need to set the Auth component to treat the controller and actions as our access control objects. Inside the beforeFilter() method:

function beforeFilter()
{
$this->Auth->authorize = 'actions';
}

Setting Up AROs, ACOs and Permissions:

Our AROs will be the users and groups. Since our user and group models already use the ACL behavior, we no longer have to worry creating AROs for them- they are already created when a new user or group is added. We only have to deal with creating ACOs. If you’ve already read the part of the manual about access control lists, you’ll find out that adding an ACO is just like saving data using models. You just need to specify the name of the controller/action as its alias and its parent id.

$aco = new Aco();
$aco->create();

$aco->save(array(
   'model'=>null,
   'foreign_key'=>null,
   'parent_id'=> $parentIdIfAny,
   'alias'=> $nameOfControllerOrAction
));
You might want to have a root node where all default permissions will be based upon. Then this node will contain child nodes, which will be our controller names. Then each controller will have action names as child nodes.

Controller
     |- Pages
     |    |- index
     |    |- about
     |    |- contact
     |- Articles
          |- index
          |- view
          |- add
          |- edit
          |- delete
To assign permissions, use the allow() and deny() methods of the ACL component. These methods takes at least 2 parameters: first is the ARO and second is the ACO. We could reference an ARO/ACO node using its alias or by providing an array of field conditions that uniquely describes the node.

$this->Acl->allow(array('model'=>'Group', 'foreign_key'=>$groupId), $nameOfControllerOrAction);
Since it is very likely that different controllers to have the same action names (thus making their alias non-unique and cause ambiguity), we can specify the path to the node using slashes (/).

$this->Acl->allow(array('model'=>'Group', 'foreign_key'=>$groupId), 'Pages/index');
$this->Acl->allow(array('model'=>'Group', 'foreign_key'=>$anotherGroupId), 'Articles/index');
You can deny all permissions on the root node (in this case, the ‘Controller’) to set default permissions that will be inherited by all the controllers. Then grant permission per controller or per action.

The Test Run:

I provided a simple app demo for download (acl_demo.zip).
1) Extract the contents of the zip file.
2) Run the sql file found inside the models folder
3) Edit the content (ROOT, APP_DIR and CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH paths) of index.php under the webroot folder according to you CakePHP setup
4) Access the index page of the app (ex: http://localhost/acl/) and click the setup button. Take note of the username and password of the accounts that will be created.
5) Login and test the application. Members page should only be accessible to members and admin. Editors page to editors and admin. Administrators page to administrator only.

Errors, corrections or suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment.

Sources:
http://manual.cakephp.org/view/171/access-control-lists
http://manual.cakephp.org/view/172/authentication
http://lemoncake.wordpress.com/2007/07/15/using-aclbehavior-in-cakephp-12/
http://lemoncake.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/acl-with-groups/
http://aranworld.com/article/161/cakephp-acl-tutorial-what-is-it

Always use array when passing parameters when creating a link or using Router::url(), it will save you time in the future. Why? Consider this scenario:

You created a controller /users/register and in your code and you added this

link('User Registration', '/users/register')?>


Then your group or your boss decided to use a better name /register. Your initial thought would be to replace all those texts to those new ones, isn’t it? There is a better approach. Try the ffg:

In /config/router.php

'users','action'=>'register')); ?>


In your view:

link('Registration', array('controller'=>'users','action'=>'register'))?>


the HTML helper uses Router::url() in its link function and the Router class magically converts array parameters to what you stated in your config. In writing urls, we have to be consistent because it can be bad for SEO when you have too many urls pointing to the same location.

Although the above works beautifully but it can be a tedious job. I wrote not long ago about the html helper that could make this approach easier so you could write the ffg in your view.


link('Registration', url( 'users', 'register', null, 'teacher' ))?>


It saves a few characters!

From the last post, I refactored it and placed it in the bootstrap so I can call it anywhere (got that idea from the google groups).

Here it is:

function url() {
$args = func_get_args();
$count = func_num_args();

return $args;
}


The function above could take an array OR any number of string parameters.

url ( 'controller', 'action', 'plugin_name', ...[more params here] )
url ( array( 'c' => 'controller', 'a' => 'action', 'p' => 'plugin' ) )


The first one is strict for the first 3 parameters. The latter can be written in any order as you like. I also added support for prefix routing such as admin_*. So you can write:

url ( 'controller', 'admin_action', 'plugin_name', ...[more params here] )
url ( array( 'c' => 'controller', 'a' => 'admin_action', 'p' => 'plugin' ) )


Router::parse() can also be used instead of url() function but the latter is faster.

That’s it. Happy Baking!