CodeIgniter - constructors in models - php

Question

So here is my controller:
class Search extends CI_Controller {
public function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->model('search_model');
$this->search_model->search_result = $_POST;
}
public function index()
{
$data['results'] = $this->search_model->get_results();
$this->load->view('search_results', $data);
}
And here is my model:
class Search_model extends CI_Model {
protected $search_query;
function __construct($search_query)
{
parent::__construct();
$this->load->database();
$this->search_query = $search_query;
}
But this doesn't seem to work. What I want to do is pass the posted form ($_POST) to my model, then do stuff with it. But it seems messy to pass $_POST to each method of my model. My plan is to extract the variables sent with $_POST and construct these as properties such as $website_url, $text_query etc..., then call these in methods with $this->website_url;
I'm relatively new to CodeIgniter so just getting to grips with the basics

Answer 1

for your special purpose you can try this code
Controller:
class Search extends CI_Controller {
public function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->model('search_model');
$this->init();
}
private function init()
{
$this->search_model->init( $this->input->post() );
}
public function index()
{
$data['results'] = $this->search_model->get_results();
$this->load->view('search_results', $data);
}
model:
class Search_model extends CI_Model {
protected $search_query;
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
$this->load->database();
}
public function init( $search_query )
{
$this->search_query = $search_query;
}

Answer 2

you have protected $search_query; which you can't access it from your controller.
You either have to change it to public or create getter and setter for it. or just getter depending on your domain/business logic.
And it should have been obvious as you should get an error saying
Fatal error: Cannot access protected property in file some/path/to/file!

Answer 3

Don't put the 'search query' in your model constructor.
Controller:
class Search extends CI_Controller {
public function __construct() {
parent::__construct();
$this->load->model('search_model');
}
public function index()
{
if ($this->input->server('REQUEST_METHOD') == 'POST')
{
// you should probably validate/clean the post data instead
// of sending it straight to the model
$results = $this->search_model->get_where($_POST);
}
else
{
// if it's not a post, you probably need something...
// either here, or somewhere in your view to handle empty data
$results = array();
}
$data['results'] = $results
$this->load->view('search_results', $data);
}
Your Model:
class Search_model extends CI_Model {
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
$this->load->database(); // <--- you may want to autoload 'database' library
}
function get_where($where)
{
$this->db->where($where);
// add select, order, joins, etc here
return $this->db->get('mytable'); // whatever your table name is
}