Emran Hasan's Blog » Code Igniter

Changing the default controller naming convention in CodeIgniter

Emran Hasan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:23:04 +0000

CodeIgniter is one of my favorite framework and I often use it for developing application quickly. Although it is very flexible in most cases, I find its naming convention to be strict. Many times I have faced this problem when my controller’s class name and a model/library’s class names are the same – a Fatal error is inevitable and I have to forcefully change the name of the conflicting class to something less desirable (say from Users to UsersModel). Today I wanted to end this problem.

So I extended the CI_Router core class and made change to the _validate_request method. Now I can name my controller classes in this fashion: UsersController and it resides on the file system as controllers/UsersController.php. If you’ve tried other established frameworks, you should notice that this naming convention is widely used. So, if you have the same need, then just download the MY_Router.php file and put it on your application/libraries folder. That’s it.

Here is how your controller would start:

class UsersController extends Controller
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
}
}

If you’d like to have a look at the code, here is the source for quick view:

if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

/*
* MY_Router
*
* Extended the core CI_Router class in order to force a different naming
* convention for controllers.
*
*/
class MY_Router extends CI_Router
{
/*
* Suffix in controller name
*
* @var String
*/
private $_suffix = "Controller";

/*
* Call the parent constructor
*
* This is a requirement for extending base CI core class. Just abiding by
* the rules.
*
* @access public
* @return void
*/
public function MY_Router()
{
parent::CI_Router();
}

/**
* Validates the supplied segments. Attempts to determine the path to
* the controller.
*
* @access private
* @param array
* @return array
*/
function _validate_request($segments)
{
// Retain the original segments
$orgSegments = array_slice($segments, 0);

// Add suffix to the end
$segments[0] = ucfirst($segments[0]) . $this->_suffix;

// Does the requested controller exist in the root folder?
if (file_exists(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$segments[0].EXT))
{
return $segments;
}

// OK, revert to the original segment
$segments[0] = $orgSegments[0];

// Is the controller in a sub-folder?
if (is_dir(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$segments[0]))
{
// Set the directory and remove it from the segment array
$this->set_directory($segments[0]);
$segments = array_slice($segments, 1);

if (count($segments) > 0)
{
// Add suffix to the end
$segments[0] = ucfirst($segments[0]) . $this->_suffix;

// Does the requested controller exist in the sub-folder?
if ( ! file_exists(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$this->fetch_directory().$segments[0].EXT))
{
show_404($this->fetch_directory().$segments[0]);
}
}
else
{
// Add suffix to the end
$this->default_controller = ucfirst($this->default_controller) . $this->_suffix;

$this->set_class($this->default_controller);
$this->set_method('index');

// Does the default controller exist in the sub-folder?
if ( ! file_exists(APPPATH.'controllers/'.$this->fetch_directory().$this->default_controller.EXT))
{
$this->directory = '';
return array();
}

}

return $segments;
}

// Can't find the requested controller...
show_404($segments[0]);
}
}

Cheers!

Code Updates (HTTP class, Extended CodeIgniter Model, Cross-domain AJAX transport)

Emran Hasan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:27:47 +0000

Greetings to all the readers of my blog.

Many of you have been writing to me in the last couple days when I took the site down. The main objective was to add the new theme and push a few code updates of the existing libraries. I really appreciate your concern and would like to reassure you that the site is up and will be up as usual Now, besides the slightly customized theme from Elegant Themes, I have put a few code updates. They are detailed below:

Extended Model for CodeIgniter

The original version of the Extended Model for CodeIgniter has been serving many people well. Although most users loved the nifty functions of the Model, many (including me) didn’t like the hacking of CI core to get this functionality. With the release of CodeIgniter 1.7, we can avoid that as we can now overload the Model class of CI like the other libraries. Follow this instruction:

1. Download the updated version from here
2. Put it in your application/libraries folder
3. In your model files, use it this way: class Product extends MY_Model
4. Everything else is same just like the original one

HTTP Class

There is not much update in this class except for a few bug fixes (thanks to you guys). Also, I have included a license file in the package as many of you have asked. It’s released under the MIT license. The original post is here for reference.

Download the update from here and the API reference is here.

Cross-domain AJAX calls using PHP

A minor bug fix in the code. Thanks to a few of you who pointed them out. Original post is here. Download the update from here.

I have accelerated plans for the blog in 2009 so stay tuned for some worthy posts in this month. And do write to me if you feel you have any questions/ideas/suggestions.

Cheers!

Extended Model for CodeIgniter

Emran Hasan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:59:03 +0000

Feb 2009: An updated version of the code for CodeIgniter 1.7.x can be found here.

I developed this extension of CodeIgniter’s Model last year, but never had the chance to publish it. The main purpose of this extension is to make a dev’s life easy. This extension has been used by several of my devs at RBS and has been proved to increase productivity and reduce the number of painful small queries to write. Their enthusiasm has driven me to post this for the CI fans out there.

Without much babble, let’s get into point. I’ve explained the process of installing it and then showed some example uses. For starter, click here to download it. Now follow these steps to get started:

1. Replace the system/libraries/Model.php file with the attached Model.php (CodeIgniter version 1.6.3)

2. For each of your tables, you will need to create a model file in system/application/models.

3. Lets say we have a "products" table whose schema is as follows:

   1: CREATE TABLE `products` (   2:       `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,   3:       `title` varchar(50) NOT NULL,   4:       `description` text NOT NULL,   5:       `color` varchar(20) NOT NULL,   6:       `price` float NOT NULL,   7:       `category_id` int(11) NOT NULL,   8:       `featured` char(1) NOT NULL,   9:       `enabled` char(1) NOT NULL,  10:       `visits` int(1) NOT NULL,  11:       `created` int(11) NOT NULL,  12:       `modified` int(11) NOT NULL,  13:       PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)  14:     ) ENGINE=MyISAM;

4. Now we need to create system/application/models/product.php:

   1: if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');   2:     3:     class Product extends Model {   4:     5:         function Product()   6:         {   7:             // Call the Model constructor   8:             parent::Model();   9:               10:             // Load the associated table  11:             $this->loadTable('products');  12:         }  13:    14:     }

5. From any controller, you can load the Model as instructed in the CI manual. Here are some sample usage of the model functions:

   1: function products()   2:     {   3:         // Load the model in the default way   4:         $this->load->model('Product');   5:            6:         // Total # of products   7:         echo $this->Product->findCount();   8:            9:         // Total # of featured products  10:         echo $this->Product->findCount("featured = 'Y'");   11:           12:         // Retrieve ALL the products  13:         $allProducts = $this->Product->findAll();   14:           15:         // Retrive id, title and price of top 10 products (based on popularity) that are enabled  16:         $topProducts = $this->Product->findAll("enabled = 'Y'", 'id, title, price', 'visits DESC', '0', '10');  17:           18:         // Retrive id, title and price of the 1st most popular product that is enabled  19:         $topProducts = $this->Product->find("enabled = 'Y'", 'id, title, price', 'visits DESC', '0', '10');   20:           21:         // Retrieve the product with id = 1  22:         $oneProduct = $this->Product->read(1);   23:           24:         // Retrive the price of the product whose id = 1  25:         $productPrice = $this->Product->field('price', 'id = 1');   26:           27:         // Single array with the titles of all the enabled products  28:         $productArr = $this->Product->generateSingleArray("enabled = 'Y'", 'title');   29:           30:         // Insert a new product in the db  31:         $newProductId = $this->Product->insert(array('title' => 'New Product', 'price' => '10.99'));   32:           33:         // Update the price of the newly added product  34:         $updProduct = $this->Product->save(array('price' => '20.00'), $newProductId);   35:           36:         // Delete the product  37:         $this->Product->remove($new_product_id);  38:     }

7. There are a number of other helpful functions in this file. If you have a careful look, you’ll discover that some of them are really handy.

UPDATE: I forgot to give due credit to the wonderful developers of CakePHP – I’ve taken inspiration from their Model implementation while building this one for CodeIgniter.

Download

Model.php
Extended Model for CodeIgniter
Downloaded: times

MORE UPDATE: Download the version for CodeIgniter 1.7.x here.

Htpasswd protection library for Code Igniter

Emran Hasan — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:46:10 +0000

This is a library designed to run with Code Igniter that allows the application to protect any folder in the webserver using the htpasswd method of Apache. It can also group the users and create group based permission on the folders. The use is very simple: you need to define an array of the users (and array of groups if you need that), tell it where to store the password files and tell which folder to protect. It will do the rest for you. Here goes the function:

    /**
     * Protect a given folder with htpasswd protection method
     *
     * @author  Md Emran Hasan
     * @param   string  location of the folder to protect
     * @param   string  location of the folder to write the group and password file
     * @param   array   an array with the users info (username and password)
     * @param   array   an array with the groups along with their user list
     * @return  boolean
     * @access  public
     */
    function protect($protectFolder, $passFolder, $userData, $groupData = array())

It is a small part of the large protection library I have been developing for a membership management application called MemberSmart . This application allows someone to protect their PHP and non-PHP based files residing in a server in a number of ways. Among the methods, the htpasswd is the most easy and convenient one. This application will be released soon by the client I am working for.

Download the library with the example from htpasswd.zip. Here is an example controller highlighting the use of the library.

class Protect extends Controller {

    function Protect()
    {
        parent::Controller();
    }

    function index()
    {
        // Load the library
        $this->load->library(‘AuthHtpasswd’);

        // Create the user array (this might come from your db)
        $userData = array(
                            array(
                                    ‘username’ => ‘admin’,
                                    ‘password’ => ‘root’
                                 ),
                            array(
                                    ‘username’ => ‘test’,
                                    ‘password’ => ‘test123′
                                 ),
                            array(
                                    ‘username’ => ‘emran’,
                                    ‘password’ => ‘hasan’
                                 )
                         );

        // Create the group array (this might also come from your db)
        $groupData = array(
                            array(
                                    ‘name’ => ‘ADMIN’,
                                    ‘users’ => array(‘admin’, ‘emran’)
                                 ),
                            array(
                                    ‘name’ => ‘QA’,
                                    ‘users’ => array(‘test’)
                                 )
                         );

        // Define the root to the folders
        $rootDir = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;

        // Protect them!
        $action = $this->authhtpasswd->protect($rootDir . ‘cs’,
                                         $rootDir . ‘data’,
                                         $userData,
                                         $groupData
                                        );

        // Is there any error? If yes, then show them!
        if (!$action)
        {
            $this->authhtpasswd->printErrors();
        }
    }
}
?>

Md Emran Hasan
Co-founder & CTO
Right Brain Solution Ltd.

Code Igniter Rocks !

Emran Hasan — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:37:23 +0000

A few days back I discovered CakePHP and was very impressed with it. I started to code one of my apps with it but my impression decreased when i wanted to deploy it. After several methods and even communicating in their IRC, I wasnt able to deploy the app – total wastage of my time !!!

My search for a framework thats as easy (or easier ?) as Cake but having smooth deploy feature started again. I heard about Code Igniter before, but didnt give it much attention. Now I decided to visit their site. The one thing that forced me to give attention to it this time was this text on their site:

“If you’re a developer who lives in the real world of shared hosting accounts and clients with deadlines, and if you’re tired of ponderously large and thoroughly undocumented frameworks that require rocket science to understand, Code Igniter might just be the right tool for you.”

I decided to test it out and to my surprise, they are not lying a bit ! I was able to create a site for one client in super-cool way in a lot lesser time than it would actually take without it. While coding the app, I loved CI’s simplicity, its non-geeky style framework functions and their simple usages, the top-notch documentation and a good user base for knowledge searching.

Now I know which framework I should use for my projects. Certainly Cake is more robust framework than CI, but CI beats it by its simplicity. And I also love that !