Category: PHP

Creating A Custom Handler Session In CakePHP 2.x

Posted on by Jay

Sessions manage and customization is very easy in CakePHP. Setting and configuration come out of the box so basically you don’t need to configure at all. But still at some point we need customization like, if we need some changes in php.ini or want to store session in a different place.

You can manage session, write custom handler, add option to save on different places, override php.ini settings.

Write Your Own Custom Handler For Sessions in Cake:

To Save Session With Setting in php.ini:

Configure::write('Session', array(
'defaults' => 'php'
));

This is the default setting that comes out of the box by CakePHP.

To Save Session Inside Cake tmp Folder:

Configure::write('Session', array(
'defaults' => 'cake'
));

This is required in a host where it does not allow you to write outside your home directory.

To Save Session in Database:

Configure::write('Session', array(
'defaults' => 'database'
));

This uses a built-in database defaults. It stores session in ‘cake_sessions’ table.
So you need to create a table for this:

CREATE TABLE `cake_sessions` (
`id` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`data` text,
`expires` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);

But you can specify you own session handler to store session using a different model:

Configure::write('Session', array(
'defaults' => 'database',
'handler' => array(
'model' => 'MyCakeSession'
)
));

Create ‘MyCakeSession’ model at app/Model/MyCakeSession.php  And create ‘my_cake_sessions’ table:

CREATE TABLE `my_cake_sessions` (
`id` varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
`data` text,
`expires` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);

This will save session ‘my_cake_sessions’ using MyCakeSession model.

To Save Session in Cake Cache:

Configure::write('Session', array(
'defaults' => 'database'
));

Making Session Persist Across All Sub-Domains:

  • Add below in bootstrap:
    ini_set(‘session.cookie_domain’, env(‘HTTP_BASE’));
  • This changes the default, that only the domain generating a session can access, to all sub-domains.
  • You don’t need to make core Security.level to low or medium.
  • You can also use php, cake, database or cache in core Session default to persist session in all sub-domains.

Troubleshoot:

  • When you test with the session management you might get error: “cakephp 404 The request has been black-holed”.
  • Try clear tmp/cache/, tmp/cache/models, tmp/cache/persistent, tmp/sessions.
  • Try clear browser cookie and cache.
  • Check core Session configurations.

Always try to clear browser cookie, cache before doing changes in core Session or php.ini configuration.

Other Session configuration that can be done are cookie name, timeout, cookieTimeout, checkAgent, autoRegenerate, and other ini values like cookie_secure, cookie_path, cookie_httponly.

See Also : How to migrate CakePHP 1.x to 2.x

Like this blog? I’d love to hear about your thoughts on this. Thanks for sharing your comments.

Containable Behavior in CakePHP

Posted on by Jay

When we are going to retrieve records of (user) using User model, we can get the associated model’s record at the same time. That might not require at some point. To avoid this, CakePHP provides the bindModel/unbindModel methods. But this is not be a good practice. You can streamline your operation using the containable behavior. The performance and the speed will increased as well. It will mostly reduce the joining of tables.

Usage & Examples:

class User extends AppModel {
     public $actsAs = array('Containable');
   }

Where “User” is the model for which you are adding the containable behavior.

You can also do the following on the fly:

$this->User->Behaviors->load(‘Containable’);

Operations:

Without the use of Containable

$this->User->find('all');
  Here User model has hasMany relation with the Comment.
  [0] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 1
                    [title] => First article1
                    [content] => aaa1
                    [created] => 2008-05-17 00:00:00
                )
            [Comment] => Array
                ( [0] => Array
          (
            [id] => 1
            [User_id] => 1
            [author] => Daniel1
            [email] => dan@example.com1
            [website] => http://example.com1
            [comment] => First comment1
            [created] => 2008-05-17 00:00:00
          )
        [1] => Array
          (
            [id] => 2
            [User_id] => 1
            [author] => Sam1
            [email] => sam@example.net1
            [website] => http://example.net1
            [comment] => Second comment1
            [created] => 2008-05-10 00:00:00
          )
      )
  )
  [1] => Array
  (
    [User] => Array
      (...

Using Containable:

Case 1: If we need only User data.

$this->User->contain();
      $this->User->find('all');
  OR
  $this->User->find('all', array('contain' => false));
  Out Put:
  [0] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 1
                    [title] => First article1
                    [content] => aaa1
                    [created] => 2008-05-17 00:00:00
                )
        )
       [1] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 2
                    [title] => Second article1
                    [content] => bbb1
                    [created] => 2008-05-10 00:00:00
                )
        )
  Case 2: With complex associations
       $this->User->contain('Comment.author');
           $this->User->find('all');
 
           // or..
 
           $this->User->find('all', array('contain' => 'Comment.author'));
  Out put:
  [0] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 1
                    [title] => First article1
                    [content] => aaa1
                    [created] => 2008-05-17 00:00:00
                )
            [Comment] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [author] => Daniel1
                            [User_id] => 1
                        )
                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [author] => Sam1
                            [User_id] => 1
                        )
                )
        )
 
   $this->User->find('all', array('contain' => 'Comment.author = "Daniel1"'));
 
    Out put:
  [0] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 1
                    [title] => First article1
                    [content] => aaa1
                    [created] => 2008-05-17 00:00:00
                )
            [Comment] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [id] => 1
                            [post_id] => 1
                            [author] => Daniel1
                            [email] => dan@example.com1
                            [website] => http://example.com1
                            [comment] => First comment1
                            [created] => 2008-05-11 00:00:00
                        )
                )
        )
  [1] => Array
        (
            [User] => Array
                (
                    [id] => 2
                    [title] => Second article2
                    [content] => bbb2
                    [created] => 2008-05-22 00:00:00
                )
            [Comment] => Array
                (
                )
        )

The gray area showing that the User data always returned irrespective of the “Comment”.

Pagination Using Containable:

Including the ‘contain’ parameter in the $paginate property we can achieve find(‘count’)
and find(‘all’) on the model. This is a most valuable feature of CakePHP.

$this->paginate['User'] = array(
    'contain' => array('Comment', 'Tag'),
    'order' => 'User.name'
  );
  $users = $this->paginate('User');

If you are searching for PHP or CakePHP developers, then we are the ideal and cost savvy option for you.

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Hash Class: Makes CakePHP Coding easier!

Posted on by Prakash S.

Hash is a predefined class provided by CakePHP. It is used for array manipulation such as inserting an element to an array, remove an element from an array, sort an array, extract part of a large array, filter the non empty elements, rearrange the whole array, which makes the code more optimized and understandable. So it makes CakePHP easier and flexible to use. Because most of the operations like find, insert, update in CakePHP returns/takes array as output/input.

Hash provides an improved interface, more consistent and predictable set of features over Set. While it lacks the spotty support for pseudo XPath, its more fully featured dot notation provides similar features in a more consistent implementation.

Operations performed by Hash class:

  • extract()
  • combine()
  • filter()
  • check()
  • insert()
  • remove()
  • sort()
  • and many more…

Some Important Tips:

{n} – Match any numeric key.
{s} – Match any string value and numeric string values.
[id] – Matches elements with a given array key.
[id=2] – Matches elements with id equal to 2.
[id!=2] – Matches elements with id not equal to 2.
[id<=2] – Matches elements with id less than or equal to 2.

– Matches elements that have values matching the regular expression inside.

  • Hash::extract(array $data, $path):

Retrieve required data from array. You do not have to loop through the array.

Ex: // Common Usage:

$users = $this->User->find("all");
 $results = Hash::extract($user, '{n}.User.id');
 // $results equals:
 // array(1,2,3,4,5,...);
  • Hash::insert(array $data, $path, $values = null):

Insert sub-array’s into the original array.

Ex:

$temp = array(
 'page' => array('name' => 'page')
);
$result = Hash::insert($temp, 'file', array('name' => 'files'));
// $result now looks like:
Array
(
 [page] => Array
 (
 [name] => page
 )
 [file] => Array
 (
 [name] => files
 )
)
  • Hash::remove(array $data,  $path = null):
Remove data from any path specified.

EX:

$arr_test = array(
 'page' => array('name' => 'page'),
 'file' => array('name' => 'files')
);
$result = Hash::remove($arr_test, 'file');
/* $result now looks like:
 Array
 (
 [page] => Array
 (
 [name] => page
 )
 
)
*/
  • Hash::combine(array $data, $keyPath = null, $valuePath = null, $groupPath = null)

Combine the results to form a new array of expected result. Helpful in case, where we are displaying data in the form of select box. Like categories, states, city etc. We don’t have to retrieve the data separately. We can find the required data from the original result set retrieved, containing the information..

Ex:

$arr_test = array(
 array(
 'User' => array(
 'id' => 2,
 'group_id' => 1,
 'Data' => array(
 'user' => 'John.doe',
 'name' => 'Matt Lee'
 )
 )
 ),
 array(
 'User' => array(
 'id' => 14,
 'group_id' => 2,
 'Data' => array(
 'user' => 'phpunt',
 'name' => 'Jack'
 )
 )
 ),
);
 
$result = Hash::combine($arr_test, '{n}.User.id', '{n}.User.Data');
/* $result now looks like below:
 Array
 (
 [2] => Array
 (
 [user] => John.doe
 [name] => Matt Lee
 )
 [14] => Array
 (
 [user] => phpunt
 [name] => Jack
 )
 )
*/
  • Hash::check(array $data, string $path = null)
    Check whether an element exists in the array or not.

Ex:

$set = array(
 'My Index' => array('First' => 'The first item1')
);
$result = Hash::check($set, 'My Index.First');
// $result == True
  • Hash::filter(array $data, $callback = array(‘Hash ‘, ‘Filter’)):
Keep only non-empty elements and filter the empty elements.
Ex:
$data_arr = array(
 '0',
 false,
 true,
 0,
 array('test', 'is you own', false)
);
$result = Hash::filter($data_arr);
 
/* Out put:
 Array (
 [0] => 0
 [2] => true
 [3] => 0
 [4] => Array
 (
 [0] => one thing
 [2] => is you own
 )
 )
*/
  • Hash::sort(array $data, $path, $dir, $type = ‘regular’)

Sort an array according to the path, direction and type provided.

Ex:

$arr_test = array(
 0 => array('Person' => array('name' => 'Jeff1')),
 1 => array('Shirt' => array('color' => 'black1'))
);
$result = Hash::sort($arr_test, '{n}.Person.name', 'asc');
/* $result now looks like:
 Array
 (
 [0] => Array
 (
 [Shirt] => Array
 (
 [color] => black1
 )
 )
 [1] => Array
 (
 [Person] => Array
 (
 [name] => Jeff1
 )
 )
 )
*/

$type can be of the following type:

regular
numeric
string
natural(ex. Will sort fooo10 below fooo2 as an example)

$dirc can be of two type asc & desc

For more information refer: http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/hash.html

However if you want you can hire or get free consultation from our experienced CakePHP developers.

Read More: Password Hashing API in PHP

Have I missed out anything? Comment at end of this topic.

CakePHP: How To Use ‘neighbors’ With ‘find’ Method

Posted on by Jay

CakePHP ‘find’ method makes it easier to retrieve data from database. The ‘find’ method can be used to construct anything from extremely simple queries to more complex ones without writing much code. This method can handle most SQL type requests and can be extended for more specific SQL queries.  I will walk you through the below example about the basics of working with the ‘find’  method

Here Are Some Inbuilt Types in CakePHP

  1. $this->Model->find(‘all’,$condition);
  2. $this->Model->find(‘first’,$condition);
  3. $this->Model->find(‘count’,$condition);
  4. $this->Model->find(‘list’,$condition);
  5. $this->Model->find(‘neighbors’,$condition);
  6. $this->Model->find(‘threaded’,$condition);

First four types are the most commonly used in CakePHP
Now, let’s take a look at an example of ‘neighbors’ type

Example

Let’s assume QuizQuestion is your model and you want to fetch the previous and next entries

Your Controller/action will look like,

public function getNeighbors($id){
 
$this->QuizQuestion->id = $id;
 
$neighbors = $this->QuizQuestion->find('neighbors',array('fields'=>array('id','question_no','description')));
}

A couple of queries will be generated in SQL as,

Query: SELECT 'QuizQuestion'.'id', 'QuizQuestion'.'question_no', 'QuizQuestion'.'description',
'QuizQuestion'.'id' FROM 'quiz_questions' WHERE 'QuizQuestion'.'id' < 38   ORDER BY
'QuizQuestion'.'id' DESC  LIMIT 1
Query: SELECT 'QuizQuestion'.'id', 'QuizQuestion'.'question_no', 'QuizQuestion'.'description',
'QuizQuestion'.'id' FROM 'quiz_questions' WHERE 'QuizQuestion'.'id' > 38   ORDER BY
'QuizQuestion'.'id' ASC  LIMIT 1

Here’s the output

Array
(
[prev] => Array
(
[QuizQuestion] => Array
(
[id] => 37
[question_no] => 1
[description] => Mathematics
)
 
)
[next] => Array
(
[QuizQuestion] => Array
(
[id] => 39
[question_no] => 3
[description] => Mathematics
)
 
)
 
)

Voila! Using the result keys ‘prev’ and ‘next’ you can view the results the way you want.

An Introduction Of PHP Frameworks Guides For Developers

Posted on by Jay

A framework is a structure that developers choose to build their application. It determines the structure of the application and facilitates it to connect with many different API’s. A proficient PHP framework enables developers to develop PHP application faster, efficiently and assist in building stable applications thereby reducing the amount of repetitive coding for PHP programmers.

Frameworks provide scaffolding features that facilitates the development team to build faster and cleaner application. They often provide tool sets for both the UI components and the database access.

Note: It is advisable to use the latest stable version of a framework.

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Here are few aspects of a proficient PHP framework:

MVC Architecture:

  • The framework should make use of Model View Controller (MVC) architecture. Some of the best frameworks also provide libraries, plug-ins, helpers, and extensions to assist developers. It would be smart and efficient to employ a framework that has at least two of these options.

Database Support:

  • It is one of the most crucial aspects of every PHP development framework. You need decide your framework depending on the database you are going to use for your web application.

For Example:  ‘CodeIgniter’ supports MySQL, Oracle, and SQLite, whereas the ‘Kohana’ framework doesn’t.

Community & Documentation:

  • The framework should be supported by a strong community, not just in terms of size but also in terms of activity and usefulness. Even if it’s a small community, you should be able to get ample support from the community.

A PHP framework should also have good documentation. It should be comprehensive and up-to-date.

Below, I have provided a list of some popular and commonly used PHP frameworks.

CakePHP 2.x:

  • CakePHP is a rapid development framework for PHP. It’s a foundational structure for programmers to create web applications. CakePHP has an active developer team and community, bringing great value to the project. It is also the most preferred development framework.

        Source:http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/index.html

Symfony 2.x:

  • Speed up the creation and maintenance of your PHP web applications. Replace the repetitive coding tasks by power, control and pleasure.

        Source: http://symfony.com/

CodeIgniter 2.x:

  • CodeIgniter is a powerful PHP framework with a very small footprint, built for PHP coders who need a simple and elegant toolkit to create full-featured web applications.

         Source: http://ellislab.com/codeigniter

Zend Framework 2:

  • It is an open source framework for developing web applications and services using PHP 5.3+. Zend Framework 2 uses 100% object-oriented code and utilizes most of the new features of PHP 5.3, namely namespaces, late static binding, lambda functions and closures.
  • Zend Framework 2 evolved from Zend Framework 1, a successful PHP framework with over 15 million.

        Source: http://framework.zend.com

Yii Framework 1.1.x:

  • Yii comes with rich features: MVC, DAO/ActiveRecord, I18N/L10N, caching, authentication and role-based access control, scaffolding, testing, etc. It will reduce your development time significantly.

        Source: http://www.yiiframework.com

Kohana 3.x:

  • An elegant HMVC (Hierarchical model–view–controller) PHP5 framework that provides a rich set of components for building web applications.

        Source: http://kohanaframework.org/

FuelPHP:

  • It is a simple, flexible, community driven PHP 5.3+ framework, based on the best ideas of other frameworks.

        Source: http://fuelphp.com/

There are a number of PHP development frameworks in the market which enables the development team to do more with the programming language. Development frameworks makes coding for PHP more manageable and programmers can take its advantage by making use of a convenient development framework.

How To Integrate PayPal In PHP

Posted on by Netrananda M

To accept online payments through your website you would need a payment gateway. There are numerous payment gateways that can be implemented to your website; however you will need to choose the best for your PHP application. “PayPal” is one of the most renowned payment platforms that offers the best in class services as well as secure payment transaction. One of the best features of PayPal is that it facilitates developers to check-out the integration on merchant sites.

From a developer’s point of view, PayPal API is a simple, user friendly and versatile which facilitates them to avoid the PCI burden of having credit card details to be passed through their servers. PayPal is also the most secure platform that takes care of all the money transactions for the users.

Integrating PayPal in Your Website

The first thing we need is a Sandbox Credential and API Credentials. This can be availed using the following steps:

  • Create a Business account in “https://developer.paypal.com/” in order to access the Sandbox account.
  • Log into your business account; move to the ‘Application Tab’ and create a Sandbox test account for developers to check-out the PayPal integration.
  • For PayPal payment pro services, you can use this Sandbox Credentials for logging into “https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/”
  • If you want to login to your sandbox account you have to first log into your developer account.

Steps to Implement ‘the work’ in Your Site

  • In PayPal payment pro ‘the work’ is done through API call.
  • In your code you will have to implement a function i.e. ‘PPHttpPost(methodname,str);’
  • ‘methodname’ specifies the name of the API you want to call i.e. ‘CreateRecurringPaymentsProfile’, ‘GetTransactionDetails’ etc.

There are numerous other methods for the integration which can be availed form the PayPal developer site:  https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/classic/api/

Under ‘Merchant’ API you would find a list of functions that can be performed by PayPal website pro.
Clicking on NVP link of each function you can view the methods and the required parameters for that method.

Second Parameter in the string; which is passed to the API, is for getting the response. It includes all the parameters that have to be passed e.g.

[sourcecode]$str = "&TOKEN = $token&AMT = $paymentAmount&CURRENCYCODE = $currencyID&PROFILESTARTDATE =
$startDate";[/sourcecode]

 

[sourcecode]$nvpStr  .= "&BILLINGPERIOD = $billingPeriod&BILLINGFREQUENCY = $billingFreq&CREDITCARDTYPE = $CREDITCARDTYPE&ACCT = $ACCT&EXPDATE = $EXPDATE&CVV2 = $CVV2&EMAIL = $EMAIL&STREET = $STREET&CITY = $CITY&STATE = $STATE&COUNTRYCODE = $COUNTRYCODE&ZIP = $ZIP&FIRSTNAME = $FIRSTNAME&LASTNAME = $LASTNAME&DESC = $DESC&FAILEDINITAMTACTION = $FAILEDINITAMTACTION&INITAMT = $INITAMT";[/sourcecode]

Note: This string might differ for different methods but the structure is similar.

  • This function returns an array having one key as ACK.
  • The value of this key specifies the FAILURE and SUCCESS of the function.

If ACK is a failure then the returned array contains following error message.

[sourcecode]function PPHttpPost($methodName, $nvpStr_) {

$APIUserName = urlencode(‘API USERNAME’);

$APIPassword = urlencode(‘API PASSWORD’);

$APISignature = urlencode(‘API SIGNATURE’);

$APIEndpoint = "https://api-3t.sandbox.paypal.com/nvp"; //sandbox url.

$version = urlencode(‘51.0’);

//setting the curl parameters.

$choice = curl_init();

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_URL, $APIEndpoint);

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1);

//turning off the server and peer verification(TrustManager Concept).

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, FALSE);

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_POST, 1);

//NVPRequest for submitting to server

$nvprequest = "METHOD=$methodName&VERSION=$version&PWD=$APIPassword&USER=$APIUserName&SIGNATURE=$APISignature";

// setting the nvprequest as POST FIELD to curl

curl_setopt($choice, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $nvprequest);

//getting response from server

$httpResponse = curl_exec($choice);

if(!$httpResponse) {

exit("$methodName failed: ".curl_error($choice).'(‘.curl_errno($choice).’)’);

}

// Here Extract the RefundTransaction response details

$httpResponseArr = explode("&", $httpResponse);

$httpParsedResponseArr = array();

foreach ($httpResponseArr as $i => $value) {

$tmpAr = explode("=", $value);

if(sizeof($tmpAr) > 1) {

$httpParsedResponseArr[$tmpAr[0]] = $tmpAr[1];
}
}

if((0 == sizeof($httpParsedResponseArr)) || !array_key_exists(‘ACK’, $httpParsedResponseArr)) {
exit("Invalid HTTP Response for POST request($nvprequest) to $APIEndpoint.");
}
return $httpParsedResponseArr;
}[/sourcecode]

Setting of IPN URL

IPN stands- Instant Payment Notification

Under the Profile tab of the sandbox site there is an ‘Instant Payment Notification preference’ link. Set the IPN URL from the link.

Conclusion:

This notification is sent from server to server when any transaction is done in PayPal. To capture this transaction we can set URL in Instant Payment Notification preferences page and manage those transaction information.