CakePHP database config quick-tip

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:53:55 +0000

Most CakePHP programmers have seen this simple way of storing the development and production database settings in one file:

class DATABASE_CONFIG {
var $prod = array(
…
'database' => 'live_mysite'
);
var $test = array(
…
'database' => 'local_mysite'
);
// the construct function is called automatically, and chooses prod or dev.
function __construct() {
//check to see if server name is set (thanks Frank)
if(isset($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'])){
switch($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']){
case '127.0.0.1':
$this->default = $this->test;
break;
default:
$this->default = $this->prod;
break;
}
} else { // we are likely baking, use our local db
$this->default = $this->test;
}
}

If you haven’t, check out Edward A. Webb’s original post from ~~1998~~ 2008.

This same technique can be used in the bootstrap.php file for other settings that change based on the server, for instance GoogleMap keys:

if ( strpos( $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'],'MySite.com') !== false)
Configure::write('GMAP_KEY', 'ABQIAA…qcPrtZgKHQ');
else
Configure::write('GMAP_KEY', 'ABQIAB…e6qfWeeY8Q');

However, when baking a model, the database file only defines two types: prog and test so you pick one and end up with a model file with a line like:

var $useDbConfig = 'test';

in your baked model that doesn’t cause any problems right up until upload it to your live server late one night and start getting errors about being unable to make a connection- guess who did that?

The solution is simple: just define a default

var $default;

somewhere in the file, now when you bake cake will give you the option of using the default connection which won’t add any problem-causing $useDbConfig to your model.

Hope this saves someone 20 minutes

ZEE4 » programming

CakePHP database config quick-tip