I am using Codeigniter and I am trying to separate the "module"-layer into domain objects and a mapper/service (lets call it service).
In my controller I call the mapper to get a user:
$user = service->fetchUser($id);
The service then creates a new object of type user and populates it.
return = new entities\User($array);
When i want to save my object. Shall I do:
$user->save();
(I think it looks very good) and then from my domain object class call the service.
Or shall I do:
$service->save($user);
This clearly separates the object class from the CRUD logic but I don't think it looks as good.
Is there any "best practice" or one witch is the absolut correct way?
Thanks for all help!
(My first Q at SO so be gentle ;) )
Related
We are developing an application in Symfony (2.7) that deals with third party entities and usually needs to transform (or fill) objects from one subsystem to another.
Take this example where we need to fill $destinationObject with data stored in $sourceObject:
$sourceObject;
$destinationObject = new DestinationObject();
$destinationObject->setProperty01($sourceObject->getProperty01());
$destinationObject->setProperty02($sourceObject->getProperty02());
$destinationObject->setProperty03($sourceObject->getProperty03());
$destinationObject->setProperty04($sourceObject->getPropertyWithDifferentName());
$intermediateValue = explode('/',$sourceObject->getProperty04());
$destinationObject->setProperty05($intermediateValue[0]);
$destinationObject->setProperty06($intermediateValue[1]);
Manual method (or no method) leads to duplicated code, copy&paste practices, etc.
So my question is:
Where is the propper place to implement this kind of "transformations"?
My ideas so far:
Doing it as a model method like $destinationObject->loadFromSourceObject($sourceObject) is a bad idea (entity coupling)
I don't like the idea of building an utility class full of static methods
...
EDIT: Also, there's a common situation where in $destinationObject we need to load data from both $sourceObjectFromClassA and $sourceObjectFromClassB, so SourceObjectToDestinationObjectTransformer understood as a method returning a new created DestinationObject is not a valid option. I mean, something like this may be needed (bad code coming warning, just for exemplification purpose):
$destinationObject = new DestinationObject();
$destinationObject->loadFromSourceClassA($sourceObjectFromClassA);
$destinationObject->loadFromSourceClassB($sourceObjectFromClassB);
Using Symfony, I am displaying a table with some entries the user is able to select from. There is a little more complexity as this might include calling some further actions e. g. for filtering the table entries, sorting by different criteria, etc.
I have implemented the whole thing in an own bundle, let's say ChoiceTableBundle (with ChoiceTableController). Now I would like to be able to use this bundle from other bundles, sometimes with some more parametrization.
My desired workflow would then look like this:
User is currently working with Bundle OtherBundle and triggers chooseAction.
chooseAction forwards to ChoiceTableController (resp. its default entry action).
Within ChoiceTableBundle, the user is able to navigate, filter, sort, ... using the actions and routing supplied by this bundle.
When the user has made his choice, he triggers another action (like choiceFinishedAction) and the control flow returns to OtherBundle, handing over the results of the users choice.
Based on these results, OtherBundle can then continue working.
Additionally, OtherOtherBundle (and some more...) should also be able to use this workflow, possibly passing some configuration values to ChoiceTableBundle to make it behave a little different.
I have read about the "Controller as Service" pattern of Symfony 2 and IMHO it's the right approach here (if not, please tell me ;)). So I would make a service out of ChoiceTableController and use it from the other bundles. Anyway, with the workflow above in mind, I don't see a "good" way to achieve this:
How can I pass over configuration parameters to ChoiceTableBundle (resp. ChoiceTableController), if neccessary?
How can ChoiceTableBundle know from where it was called?
How can I return the results to this calling bundle?
Basic approaches could be to store the values in the session or to create an intermediate object being passed. Both do not seem particularly elegant to me. Can you please give me a shove in the right direction? Many thanks in advance!
The main question is if you really need to call your filtering / searching logic as a controller action. Do you really need to make a request?
I would say it could be also doable just by passing all the required data to a service you define.
This service you should create from the guts of your ChoiceTableBundleand let both you ChoiceTableBundle and your OtherBundle to use the extracted service.
service / library way
// register it in your service container
class FilteredDataProvider
{
/**
* #return customObjectInterface or scallar or whatever you like
*/
public function doFiltering($searchString, $order)
{
return $this->filterAndReturnData($searchString, $order)
}
}
...
class OtherBundleController extends Controller {
public function showStuffAction() {
$result = $this->container->get('filter_data_provider')
->doFiltering('text', 'ascending')
}
}
controller way
The whole thing can be accomplished with the same approach as lipp/imagine bundle uses.
Have a controller as service and call/send all the required information to that controller when you need some results, you can also send whole request.
class MyController extends Controller
{
public function indexAction()
{
// RedirectResponse object
$responeFromYourSearchFilterAction = $this->container
->get('my_search_filter_controller')
->filterSearchAction(
$this->request, // http request
'parameter1' // like search string
'parameterX' // like sorting direction
);
// do something with the response
// ..
}
}
A separate service class would be much more flexible. Also if you need other parameters or Request object you can always provide it.
Info how to declare controller as service is here:
http://symfony.com/doc/current/cookbook/controller/service.html
How liip uses it:
https://github.com/liip/LiipImagineBundle#using-the-controller-as-a-service
I've started development on a CakePHP project since a few weeks now. Since the beginning I was struggling with the amount of code inside the controllers. The controllers have, in most cases more lines of code than the models. By knowing the expression "Skinny controller, fat model" I'm searching for some days now for a way to put more code in the models.
The question arises at this point is, "where to draw the line". What should the controller do and what should the model do. There are already some questions/answers on this only I'm searching for a more practical explanation. For example I've put a function below which is now inside the controller. I think a part of this code must and can be moved to the model. So my question is: what part can I move to the model and what can remain in the controller.
/**
* Save the newly added contacts and family members.
*/
public function complete_contacts()
{
if ($this->request->is('post')) {
if (isset($this->data['FamilyMembers'])) {
$selected_user = $this->Session->read('selected_user');
$family_members = $this->data['FamilyMembers'];
$this->ContactsConnection->create();
foreach ($family_members as $family_member) {
// connection from current user to new user
$family_member['ContactsConnection']['contact_family_member_id'] = $selected_user['id'];
$family_member['ContactsConnection']['nickname'] = $selected_user['first_name'];
$this->ContactsConnection->saveAll($family_member);
// inverted connection from new user to current user
$inverted_connection['ContactsConnection']['family_member_id'] = $selected_user['id'];
$inverted_connection['ContactsConnection']['contact_family_member_id'] = $this->FamilyMember->inserted_id;
$inverted_connection['ContactsConnection']['nickname'] = $family_member['FamilyMember']['nickname'];
$this->ContactsConnection->saveAll($inverted_connection);
}
}
}
}
Should I create a function in the FamilyMember model called: "save_new_family_member($family_member, $selected_user)"?
As far as the purposes of the M and the C
The model manages the behavior and data of the application domain,
responds to requests for information about its state (usually from the
view), and responds to instructions to change state (usually from the
controller).
The controller receives user input and initiates a response by making
calls on model objects. A controller accepts input from the user and
instructs the model and a view port to perform actions based on that
input.
I would suggest you can pass
$selected_user = $this->Session->read('selected_user');
To your Model and perform your for each inside of your Model. You may want to change rules as to how the data is stored or perform some transformations on it and the Controller should be blind to this. Basically use the Controller to get your information [from the View often] to the Model. Don't directly manipulate the Model from the Controller. In short YES create the function that you suggested :)
That being said sometimes I find myself in a position where my Controller has to do more than I'd like, in which case at least break the task down into helper methods that way your controller is more manageable and you can reuse code where needed.
You are doing it right.
You can of course create some methods in model and make it fat with:
function updateContactFamilyMemberId($id){}
function updateNickname($nickname){}
...
In my opinion it still will be correct, but unnecessary.
I'm working with a PHP MVC Framework. Works really well. I like the separation of the business layer (model) with the business logic (controller). But i just stumbled upon a problem. Here's the thing:
Suppose i navigate to the following url:
http://localhost/user/showall/
In this case the userController.php is called and within that file there is a method showallAction() which gets executed.
In the showallAction() method i simply do a request to a model which gets all the users for me. Something like this:
public function showallAction()
{
// create userModel object
$users = new userModel();
// get all users and assign the data to a variable which can be accessed in the view
$this->view->users = $users->getAllUsers();
// render views
$this->view->render();
}
So this method gets all the users, assigns the data returned from the userModel to a variable and i can easily work with the returned data in my view. Just a typical MVC thing.
Now here comes the problem.
I also need to create a native iphone variant. Ofcourse the looks will be totally different. So all i actually want to do is to request this url:
http://localhost/user/showall/
And that it just gives me the array (in json format) back. So i can use that for the mobile development.
But this obviously can't be done right now because the showallAction() method assumes that it is for web browser display. It doesn't echo JSON formatted, instead it simply assings the array of users to a variable.
So that means i have to create another method "showallMobileAction()" in order to get the data, but specifically for the mobile device. But this is not an elegant solution. I'm sure that are better ways...
Anyone any idea how can i solve this problem??
In your situation i would modify the routing mechanism.
It would be useful, if you could add extension at the end of URL, which represents the format you expect, like :
http://foo.bar/news/latest >> HTML document
http://foo.bar/news/latest.html >> HTML document
http://foo.bar/news/latest.rss >> you RSS feed
http://foo.bar/news/latest.json >> data in JSON format
It's a simple pattern to recognize. And you can later expand this to add .. dunno .. pdf output, or Atom feeds.
Additionally , two comments :
Model is not a type of objects. Instead it is a layer, containing objects responsible for business logic, and objects responsible for data storage/retrieval.
View should be a full blown object, to which you bind the domain objects (objects responsible for business logic).
You could pass parameters to your url:
/user/showall/json
and get the third URL segment with a custom function or a built-in one. For instance, with CodeIgniter: $this->uri->segment(3).
Some frameworks will pass the additional parameters to your method. Just try this with the URL I wrote above:
public function showallAction()
{
print_r(func_get_args());
}
I'm not familiar with PHP MVC but in general terms I'd use the "accepts" HTML header field to request the response in either "text/html" or "text/json", the controller would check for the accepts type and return the response accordingly.
Using PHP, If I have a model (a class) where I various queries, whatever I need, and in my controller, I use myModel = new CustomerModel(); and later in the controller, say I call myMyodel in the controller (I know looks like codeigniter but I am not using a framework) to:
$data['query'] = myModel.OrderByLastName();
how do I pass that $data['query'] to a view, a separate .php page?
I don't wan to echo anything from my controller.
Also, was hoping this design, the way I explained it makes sense. Or am I wasting time with the model class?
Typically, you'd instantiate a view object:
$view = new View();
Pass it the info it needs():
$view->set($name1, $value1);
$view->set($name2, $value2);
...
Then invoke the view's renderer:
$view->render();
The way Django works is the controller basically renders a template using a templating system. It passes the data in Contexts, like this:
data['query'] = myModel.OrderByLastName();
context = {'data': data['query']}
page = loader.get_template('folder/template.phtml')
return render_to_page(page, context)
roughly.
Obviously, you're writing your own system so you've got some room on exactly how you implement it. I don't know if that's exactly what you want, but it might give you a workable idea.