Slides from the talk given by Neil Crookes during the CakeFest #3 - July 2009 Note: the original pdf and the code related to this talk can be found on cakephp.org (http://cakephp.org/downloads/CakeFest/CakeFest%203%20-%20Berlin%202009/Neil%20Crookes%20-%20Bake%20Master%20Class)

1. Baking master class
who am i?
Neil Crookes
Southampton, UK
MEng Electronic Engineering 2001
Married Helen 2004
Daughter Charlotte born May 2007
Kid #2 due September 2009
Senior Programmer @ Five by Five (Digital media
agency)
LAMP 8 years
CakePHP 3 years

2. Baking master class
the plan...
Intro to Bake
How does it work?
Customising view templates
Extending core shell and tasks
Start with the theory... Sorry
Step by step practical examples
All code available... Shortly... Hopefully with history too
Demonstrate the awesome power of bake
Encourage you to write your own extensions... And share them with me
;-)

3. Baking master class
intro to bake
Console script
Collection of a shell, several tasks and templates
Code generation
<?php echo “<?php echo $html->link(‘Master baker’,
‘http://neilcrookes.com’); ?>n”; ?>
Great for admin... But less likely you’ll use it for front end
http://book.cakephp.org/view/108/The-CakePHP-Console
http://book.cakephp.org/view/113/Code-Generation-with-Bake
http://cakephp.org/screencasts/view/6

4. Baking master class
how does it work?
Bake shell /cake/console/libs/bake.php
Tasks /cake/console/libs/tasks
Project
DbConfi
g
Model *
Controll
er *
View *
Plugin /cake/console/libs/templates/views
Test
Templates
Form *
Home
Index *
View

5. Baking master class
the bake shell
Extends Shell
Prompts user for “thing” to bake, calls execute() on “thing”
task
bake all
Bakes project if specifying a dir that does not exist in root
Bakes database.php if does not exist in app/config
bake help

6. Baking master class
ModelTas
k Also Extends Shell
execute() – Calls __interactive() or bake() depending on args
listAll() – Lists all available models based on db tables
getName() – Prompts user to select one to bake
__interactive() – Checks table name, primary key etc,
confirms
selections back to user
doValidation() – * Prompts for a validation rule for each field
doAssociations() – Prompts for associations
bake() – Constructs strings of PHP code & writes to model file
bakeTest() – bakes the model test case
fixture() – bakes the model test fixtures for the model test case

7. Baking master class
ControllerTas
k Also Extends Shell
execute() – Calls __interactive() or bake() & bakeActions() depending
on args
listAll() – Lists all available controllers
getName() – Prompts user to select one to bake
__interactive() – Prompts for scaffold/actions, admin actions,
sessions, components, helpers etc, confirms selections back to user
bakeActions() – Constructs string of PHP code for CRUD actions
bake() – Constructs strings of PHP code & writes to controller file
bakeTest() – bakes the controller test case

8. Baking master class
ViewTas
k Also Extends Shell
execute() – Calls __interactive() or bake() depending on args
__interactive() – Prompts for scaffold actions, admin actions,
confirms selections back to user
__loadController() – Prepares variables to be available in the view
templates such as $pluralHumanName etc
__associations() – Prepares associations variable to be available in
the
view templates, used for determining which actions are required etc
getContent() – uses output buffering around include() to get the
processed contents of the template
bake() – Writes content to view file

9. Baking master class
index view template
HTML with bit of PHP in the middle
Normal PHP code gets interpreted by include() so if you want PHP code
in
your views, you have to echo “<?php $code; ?>”;
Uses vars from __loadController()
Loops through fields in the model printing table headings and cells
If field is a belongsTo foreignKey, makes it a link to view that record
Prints action links at the end of each table row
Prints pagination helper code
Loops through associations printing links to add and list associated
model
records.

10. Baking master class
form view template
Shared by add & edit views
Loops through fields in the model and HABTM associations printing
$form->input()
Prints link to index and delete record if edit view
Loops through associations printing links to add and list associated
model
records.
Admin views use the same template as non-admin

11. Baking master class
the practical bit
http://github.
com/neilcrookes/CakeFest

12. Baking master class
what to do to make it more awesome?
Add markup & CSS hooks for your admin stylesheet
Ignore certain fields in views
Make views more DRY
Bake individual templates
Bake templates for multiple controllers
Bake multiple controllers
Make baked files use your own behaviors, components, helpers &
elements
Bake multiple validation rules per field
Enhance usability, e.g. post save redirects, nicer error messages, format
times

13. Baking master class
what to do to make it even more awesome?
Loads of UI widgets, e.g. File upload progress bars, date pickers, rich
text
editors, drag and drop re-ordering
Link if permission – integrate ACL
Filter functionality on index views
Breadcrumbs and browse on hierarchical model index views
Ajax validation
Abstract controller logic to AppController
Modal add forms linked from select boxes for belongsTo foreignKey
fields
... And probably lots more

14. Baking master class
the end
Thanks for
listening
Any questions?

15. Baking master class
get in touch
neil@neilcrookes.com
www.neilcrookes.com
twitter.com/neilcrookes
github.com/neilcrookes
MSN: neil_crookes@hotmail.
com