Where to define Field values for CakePHP tables - php

Question

I have a CakePHP application that uses Fields to store values like 0, 1, 2.
Table:
+----+--------+----------------+
| id | status | title |
+----+--------+----------------+
| 1 | 2 | something new |
| 2 | 1 | nsfw |
| 3 | 1 | a potato |
| 5 | 0 | the real thing |
+----+--------+----------------+
Entity/ Array:
$data = [
0 => 'not published',
1 => 'published',
2 => 'draft',
9 => 'option',
];
// Some public methods to get the data..
Template Form dropdown:
+----+---------------+
| id | value |
+----+---------------+
| 0 | not published |
| 1 | published |
| 2 | draft |
| 9 | option |
+----+---------------+
What I use in template:
echo $this->Form->input('status', ['options' => $article->getArticleStatusList()]);
Example:
articles table with a status field. The default values are: 0 not published, 1 published, etc. Defining those in Entity/Article. There is an array with the default values, so in the template file I call an Entity method that uses the array for the options Form input.
Time ago I was using a configuration array for this.
Is this a good way to accomplish the task? It should be stored in a ini file? Or in a Table/Model?
All works but I want to follow the MVC pattern. Thanks.

Answer 1

Put them in src\Model\ArticleStatus.php. At least for me a status is a list of one or more things that don't change very often. No need to put them in a DB table. These lists are data and clearly belong into the model layer of the MVC pattern.
IMHO it is good practice to use constants for them because you'll do a lot checks in the code against these values. String values are prone to typos and hard to distinguish from other domains. For example if you have two tables using a status of the same name but with a different meaning the code can become tricky to understand and also a search and replace won't work very well because you'll change both types for both domains.
For example we have a countries table with a lot additional info per country but use a list of constants of our ~18 most used countries we have to do conditional checks on because of our business. So we have src\Model\Table\CountriesTable.php but as well src\Model\Country.php. The reason for this is it becomes much much more readable and easier to understand what goes in the the code if you can write Country::GERMANY instead of just using an id like 5. I personally consider it as very bad practice to use hard coded id's everywhere in the code.
if ($country === 41 && $status === 3)
vs
if ($country === Country::GERMANY && $status === ArticleStatus::PUBLISHED)
I think we can agree on that readable and easy to understand code is much better than typing a few characters less. Honestly, people whining about a few characters should learn to type faster. I consider it just as a bad excuse. ;) Also using an IDE will autocomplete the class constants any way for you. It won't do that for an integer.
Here is an example that would even allow you to generate your list with translated labels:
<?php
namespace App\Model;
class ArticleStatus {
const PUBLISHED = 'published';
const DRAFT = 'draft';
// Add more as you like
public static function getStatuses() {
return [
static::PUBLISHED ,
static::DRAFT
];
}
public static function getKeyValueList() {
return [
static::PUBLISHED => __d('app', 'Published'),
static::DRAFT=> __d('app', 'Draft')
];
}
}
Use it in your controller and set it to your view or directly use it in the view.