This certainly isn’t a comprehensive review of CakePHP. I have a client that wants to use CakePHP so they can support it internally. I’ve just barely scratched the surface, but the whole point of Cake is to allow you to develop something useful on a very short learning curve. Since it is freely available, I thought I’d share my first outing with this rapid development framework for anyone on the fence about giving it a shot.

My first suggestion: unless you are an uber geek, don’t start with the official manual. It can be a little overwhelming. There are a lot of CakePHP tutorials available through Google. Once you’ve gone through one or two of those, the manual will be a much easier read.

And you should read it because it is packed with some great information and examples. I just didn’t understand most of them the first time through. The biggest problem is that the manual doesn’t stick with a single data structure throughout. Sometimes examples are with Users, other times with Posts, and still other times Leaders… and I’m only talking about a single HTML page. I realize the writers do this so they can pick examples that best explain the aspect of CakePHP being described at that point. Just realize that the manual isn’t written for the completely uninitiated.

You’ll find features that you would expect in any decent code framework, such as a file where you can define global variables and functions. But CakePHP has something that I haven’t seen before (at least in my experience with PHP frameworks). You define the relationships between database tables in the code. The syntax takes some getting used to, but once you do this step is very quick and easy.

The advantage is that you never have to write an SQL query (although you still can). Build an HTML form that will save data to multiple tables. If you’ve defined the relationships (and named the form inputs correctly), it only takes one line to save all of the form data to the appropriate tables in the database.

The secret to the success of CakePHP is the strict adherence to naming conventions. If you want to take advantage of some of the built in short cuts, you need to use variable names, table names, and even column names (for primary and foreign keys) that match what CakePHP is expecting. The good news is the specifications are pretty straightforward. Once you know what is expected, it’s easy to write your code in accordance.

Of course this means there’s probably not going to be many cases where it makes sense to convert an existing web site to CakePHP. All the strengths of CakePHP are focused on allowing you to create brand new web sites rapidly.

I know I’ll still be learning more in the next few weeks. I’ve seen several tantalizing references to the ability to “bake” and application. The little I’ve read seems to hint that you can construct a database, and the bake function will automatically create a skeleton of the code that will eventually become your web site. Now that is a killer feature. Any readers want to share their first experiences with CakePHP?

filed under: Web Development