CakePHP: Managing table names in a controller with a single variable - php

Question

In controller A, I load a model not associated with this controller. I'm interested in managing the model name of controller B with a single variable, so I don't have to manually change many lines if the table/model B's name changes.
For example below is the controller A's code:
public $modelBName = 'ModelB';
public function controller_a_function() {
$this->loadModel($this->modelBName); // I use the variable here for model B
$this->ModelB->model_b_function(); // COMMENT #1
}
Question:
For the line commented "COMMENT #1," how do I use the variable name instead of explicitly written out word 'ModelB'? This line appears multiple times throughout the code, and I would like to use the variable $modelBName if possible. ModelB will likely not change, but if it does for some reason, it would be nice to just change one variable instead of editting multiple lines.

Answer 1

The simple answer; use this:
$this->{$this->modelBName}->find('all');
Note the curly brackets {} around the property name. more information can be found in the manual;
http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php
A cleaner approach may be a sort of 'factory' method;
/**
* Load and return a model
*
* #var string $modelName
*
* #return Model
* #throws MissingModelException if the model class cannot be found.
*/
protected function model($modelName)
{
if (!isset($this->{$modelName})) {
$this->loadModel($modelName);
}
return $this->{$modelName};
}
Which can be used like this;
$result = $this->model($this->modelBName)->find('all');
debug($result);
And, if you don't want to specify the model, but want it to return a '$this->modelBName' automatically;
/**
* Load and return the model as specified in the 'modelBName' property
*
* #return Model
* #throws MissingModelException if the model class cannot be found.
*/
protected function modelB()
{
if (!isset($this->{$this->modelBName})) {
$this->loadModel($this->modelBName);
}
return $this->{$this->modelBName};
}
Which can be used like this:
$result = $this->modelB()->find('all');
debug($result);

Answer 2

I think you are confused between model name and table name. You can set a model to use a different database table by using the $useTable property, for example:
class User extends AppModel {
public $useTable = 'users_table'; // Database table used
}
class Product extends AppModel {
public function foo() {
$this->loadModel('User');
$this->User->find('all');
}
}
You should never need to change the name of the model, and if the name of the database table changes you can simply update the $useTable property in the model.