CakeDC, the commercial entity behind the CakePHP framework, was established by Larry Masters, the founder of CakePHP. CakeDC offers CakePHP development, consultancy, CakePHP training and code review Services. From startups and social networks, to e-commerce and enterprise level applications, CakeDC provides the highest quality CakePHP development available.

After you’ve finished the Quickstart tutorial, you can brush up on the key elements in a CakePHP application:

• The CakePHP request cycle
• The conventions that CakePHP uses.
• Controllers handle requests and co-ordinate your models and the responses your application creates.
• Views are the presentation layer in your application. They give you powerful tools to create HTML, JSON and the other outputs your application needs.
• Models are the key ingredient in any application. They handle validation, and domain logic within your application.

CakePHP has a few system requirements:

• HTTP Server. For example: Apache. Having mod_rewrite is preferred, but by no means required. You can also use nginx, or Microsoft IIS if you prefer.
• Minimum PHP 8.1 (8.2 supported).
• intl PHP extension
• SimpleXML PHP extension
• PDO PHP extension

Installing CakePHP

mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Create a CakePHP Project

composer create-project –prefer-dist cakephp/app:~5.0 my_app_name

Building a Login Action

Once you have the middleware applied to your application you’ll need a way for users to login. Please ensure your database has been created with the Users table structure used in tutorial. First generate a Users model and controller with bake:

bin/cake bake model Users

bin/cake bake controller Users

Then, we’ll add a basic login action to your UsersController. It should look like:

// in src/Controller/UsersController.php

public function login()

{

    $result = $this->Authentication->getResult();

    // If the user is logged in send them away.

    if ($result->isValid()) {

        $target = $this->Authentication->getLoginRedirect() ?? ‘/home’;

        return $this->redirect($target);

    }

    if ($this->request->is(‘post’)) {

        $this->Flash->error(‘Invalid username or password’);

    }

}

Next we’ll add a view template for our login form:

// in templates/Users/login.php

<div class=“users form content”>

    <?= $this->Form->create() ?>

    <fieldset>

        <legend><?= __(‘Please enter your email and password’) ?></legend>

        <?= $this->Form->control(’email’) ?>

        <?= $this->Form->control(‘password’) ?>

    </fieldset>

    <?= $this->Form->button(__(‘Login’)); ?>

    <?= $this->Form->end() ?>

</div>

Some key features of CakePHP include:

1. Conventions over Configuration: CakePHP emphasizes convention over configuration, which means developers can achieve a lot with minimal configuration by following naming conventions for files, classes, and database tables.
2. MVC Architecture: CakePHP follows the MVC pattern, separating application logic into three interconnected components: Models (for data handling), Views (for presentation), and Controllers (for handling user requests and responses).
3. ORM (Object-Relational Mapping): CakePHP provides an ORM layer that simplifies database interactions by abstracting database operations into PHP methods, allowing developers to work with databases using PHP syntax rather than SQL queries directly.
4. Scaffolding: CakePHP offers scaffolding features that allow developers to automatically generate basic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) interfaces for database tables, making it easier to get started with application development.
5. Built-in Validation: CakePHP includes built-in validation features that enable developers to define validation rules for form data and ensure data integrity before saving it to the database.
6. Security Features: CakePHP includes built-in security features such as data sanitization, CSRF protection, and input validation to help developers build secure web applications
7. Extensions and Plugins: CakePHP has a rich ecosystem of extensions and plugins that extend its core functionality, allowing developers to easily integrate additional features into their applications.

https://cakephp.org/