Web Development & Stuff » PHP

CakePHP 1.3 Custom validation rule error – preg_match() Delimiter must not be alphanumeric or backslash

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:35:11 +0000

If you get this error:

1	Warning: Warning (2): preg_match() [<a href='function.preg-match'>function.preg-matcha>]: Delimiter must not be alphanumeric or backslash in [/var/www/vhosts/h2oservices.com/httpdocs/cake/libs/model/model.php, line 2611]

When trying to use a custom validation rule, make sure the method visibility is set to public.

So this should work:

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public function myCustomValidateRule(){

    // Custom validation code

}

It seems protected visibility works on some versions of PHP (5.2.11 tested and working) and not others.

Ternary in PHP Heredoc

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:26:57 +0000

It can’t be done using the normal Ternary operator but you can emulate it with:

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// So instead of:

$str = <<
{$a ? 1 : 2}

HTML;

// You can do:

$values = array('1', '2');

$str = <<
{$values[$a]}

HTML;

Virtual/non existent model fields using CakePHP Security Component

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:07:12 +0000

If you have fields that don’t exist in your table schema and you want to submit those to an action that is protected by the Security component. You can tell the component to ignore (and therefore not black hole/404 your request) the field(s) using its $disabledFields attribute.

In this example I’m ignoring the security_code (captcha) field, which obviously I don’t store anywhere in the database table:

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$this->Security->disabledFields = array(

  'Enquiry.security_code'

);

Saving CakePHP HABTM models with join table data

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:16:13 +0000

You can save has and belongs to many models in CakePHP (v1.3.4) whilst adding additional data to the join table, in a single operation.

In this example I’m saving Users that HABTM Videos. The users_videos join table has an order column.

Firstly add the ‘with’ parameter to the join, you can add the ‘order’ parameter too if it makes sense in your context:

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class User extends AppModel {

  public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(

    'Video' => array(

      'with' => 'UsersVideo',

      'order' => 'UsersVideo.order'

    )

  );

}

Make sure you do a $model->saveAll() in the controller:

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if($this->User->saveAll($this->data)){

  // Success message

  // Redirect     

} else {

  // Error message

}

The trick is in the naming of the form input elements. The format is Video.X.UsersVideo.field_name.

Here’s an example:

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 $form->input('Video.id') ?>

 $form->input('Video.0.UsersVideo.video_id', array(

  'type' => 'select',

  'options' => $videos

)) ?>

 $form->input('Video.0.UsersVideo.order', array(

  'type' => 'select',

  'options' => range(1, count($videos))

)) ?>

 $form->input('Video.0.UsersVideo.user_id', array(

  'type' => 'hidden',

  'value' => $user['User']['id']

)) ?>

Which outputs:

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[User] => Array

        (

            [id] => 3

        )

[Video] => Array

        (

            [0] => Array

                (

                    [UsersVideo] => Array

                        (

                            [video_id] => 9

                            [order] => 2

                            [user_id] => 3

                        )

                )

        )

This will add a record to the join table with the order value.

Obviously you can expand on this to save more users_videos records during the same saveAll call.

Insert CakePHP ACO nodes using CakeDC migrations plugin

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:24:50 +0000

I’m in the situation where most of my CMS components are extensible CakePHP plugs.

I’ve just started to use the CakeDC migrations plugin (been meaning to for a long time as I always loved Rails migrations).

I had previously automated the insertion of plugin ACO node records using a Bash script that chugged through a stack of ‘cake acl create aco bla/bla bla’ commands.

After playing with the migration callbacks for a while I figured out how to insert ACO nodes. The killer part of this process is remembering to attach the Tree behavior to the ACL model. Otherwise your ACO tree hierarchy will get toasted!

My advice would be to SQL dump your database/ACO table before playing with this:

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# Migration after callback

# Inserts a node for the Dashboard controller and then a single admin_index child action. 

public function after($direction) {

  $aco = $this->generateModel('Aco');

  // Be sure to attach this. Otherwise it's bye-bye tree hierarchy!!

  $aco->Behaviors->attach('Tree');

  if( $direction == 'up' ){

    // Insert ACO node for dashboard controller.

    $data['Aco']['parent_id'] = 1;

    $data['Aco']['alias'] = 'Dashboard';

    $aco->save($data);

    // Insert ACO node for dashboard admin_index action.

    $data['Aco']['parent_id'] = $aco->id;

    $data['Aco']['alias'] = 'admin_index';

    $aco->create();

    $aco->save($data);

  } elseif( $direction == 'down' ) {

    $dashboard = $aco->findByAlias('Dashboard');

    // Remove ACO nodes.

    if( !empty($dashboard) ){

      $aco->deleteAll(array('Aco.parent_id' => $dashboard['Aco']['id']));

      $aco->delete($dashboard['Aco']['id']);

    }

  }

  return true;

}

Coupling this with a create_table in the up stage of the migration will mean plugin installations should be a 2 stage process.

1) Import plugin using Piston/SVN external.
2) Run the install migration creating table(s) and registering permit-table actions (ACO nodes).

File uploads to PHP scripts hang in Safari bug

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:37:31 +0000

I was experiencing this issue with some larger file uploads using the CakePHP Media plugin.

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5760

I added this to the virtual host declaration in my Apache config file to fix it:

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<VirtualHost x.x.x.x:x>

    # Prevent Safari from hanging on uploads

    BrowserMatch  Safari  nokeepalive

VirtualHost>

Call to undefined method Folder::ls() on line 277 – CakePHP 1.3 with Media plugin

admin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:52:29 +0000

If you’re trying to use the CakePHP Media plugin with 1.3 (I’m running RC3) and you get this error when deleting an attachment:

1	Call to undefined method Folder::ls() in /path_to_app/app/plugins/media/models/behaviors/media.php on line 277

ls() has been deprecated in favour of read(), change line 277 of /path_to_app/app/plugins/media/models/behaviors/media.php to:

1	list($versions, ) = $Folder->read();

All should work fine thereafter ;]

CakePHP HABTM with single option select menu

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:57:29 +0000

I wasn’t having much luck with the example given in the CakePHP book for a Has and Belongs To Many relationship with a single option select menu in the view.

Anyway overriding the element type does the trick:

1	<?php echo $form->input('ResellerField', array('multiple' => false)) ?>

CakePHP ACL console refresher

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:56:57 +0000

Quick refresher for my own records. CakePHP ACL component console commands:

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# View ACO tree

cake acl view aco

# Create root ACO container - in this instance site

cake acl create aco root site

# Create ACO controller node - in this instance the products controller

cake acl create aco site Products 

# Create ACO controller action node - in this instance admin_index

cake acl create aco site/Products admin_index

# Create regular ACO controller action node

cake acl create aco site/Products index - in this instance index

# Delete ACO node - in this instance node id 5

cake acl delete aco 5

# Grant group (id 1) permission to the entire site - this will vary unless you called your root container site

cake acl grant group.1 site all

# Grant group (id 3) permission to Users controller home action

cake acl grant group.3 site/Users/home all

Set CakePHP pageTitle in view (not in controller)

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:33:57 +0000

This is quite handy if you’re working in a team and you don’t want the designer/client poking about in the controllers to set page titles. You can set them in the view using this code:

UPDATE thanks for bringing the v1.3 change to my attention JT.

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v1.3

 $this->viewVars['title_for_layout'] = 'My page title' ?>

v1.2

 $this->pageTitle = 'My page title' ?>