MVC model is what I never tried my hands on. The ModileTrailExplorer is also based on the same framework but I did not work on the core. Ruby on Rails in entire on MVC and then again I did not work on that either. Me a PHP guy who creates his class libraries for the UI of the code. So, how can I experiment on MVC was the long standing question. Finally learned about CakePHP from many guys on OSSCamp and other places. And there start the story.

The installation is easy. But based on the configuration that I have understood about cakephp, I had to give it a seperate VirtualHost pon my apache. The reason also being that my trunk root is already using Joomla. Joomla means it comes with its own mod_rewrite rules. CakePHP also has its own set of rules. Therefore Im still confused of mixing the two. Currently the application Im working runs on a single domain. And therefore, Ill have to understand to configure both Joomla and CakePHP togerher on the same DocumtnRoot.

Then comes the fact to actually make a small form which saves datta to my table. CakePHP runs on its own database naming convention. That is a hurdle since my application is old and already has its own unique convention. So I had to learn about AppModel configurations which will allow me to give custom table names, primaryKeys and even foreignKeys. Actually, till now (my fourth day of cooking) I have spend least 60%  of my time configuring AppModels. Feels like to get cakephp on an existing application as well as on an existing database means loads of homework in AppModels. I believe once my required Models are done, my application coding can take its own pace. But for now, its very slow. api.cakephp.org is my reference storehouse for now. For a newbie, every 5 mins I have to hunt how-to-do-the-foo-bar thing in cakephp. This is not a point of discouraging, you need to learn as well as port. Both things as the same time will be very very slow. All depends on your experiance level and speed to learn.

Another point to share is that I had my exclusive class library in my generic PHP application. That class cannot and will not be ported to cakephp cause its become the most complicated engine. Importing an existing class library and include files was done using the the bootstrap.php. The config part is still not done in a neat way but somehow its running without making me to copy the entire class library into cake. I would prefer it that way so that we don’t start maintaining two codes of the same files.

more updates as time goes. the project is doing good and i like many things already. will list them soon.