How to access an "abstraction" of a table ?

elvex · #1 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 07:18 PM

Hello everybody,

The example below should demonstrate quite clearly my issue.

Assuming that I have in my DB the following table :

Code:

CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `userid` INT NOT NULL,
    `username` VARCHAR( 50 ) NOT NULL,
    `avatar1` INT, -- ID of the 1st avatar picture or NULL
    `avatar2` INT, -- ID of the 2nd avatar picture or NULL
    `avatar3` INT -- ... (3 pictures max allowed)
) ;

(I know, this is not how it should be, but sometimes, reality isn't.)

So I'd like to access my avatar data as an array :

PHP Code:


			
<?php

// After getting a row

if (count($myRow->avatar) > 0)

    $this->view->avatar = new Avatar($myRow->avatar[0]) ;

This is just an example. The abstraction I'd like to create should be far more complicated. The point is : how does one create, access et write trough some abstraction of the real DB ? What are the good practices ? Where am I supposed to write the logic that stands between Model and Controller ?

I already found those two tutorials, and they seem quite interesting.

I'm looking forward to any other suggestions !

Regards
elvex

kuba · #2 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 07:59 PM

Sorry, but I don't clearly understand your questions, however you should read something about OOP (object oriented programming :P), ORM and programming patterns, like Active Record or Table Data Gateway, Row Data Gateway, DAO (Data Access Object), etc.

Also read some on offical ZF's manual about Zend_Db (as I remember it's build upon a clear example of bug tracking application)

Quote:

Where am I supposed to write the logic that stands between Model and Controller ?

Model represents data from the databse. In controller you should initialize model and access its methods to get data (which model previously queried and formed into desired form - eg. Menu::getMenu() will return array containing menu items).

elvex · #3 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 08:46 PM

Well, I sure have to read a lot...

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuba

which model previously queried and formed into desired form - eg. Menu::getMenu() will return array containing menu items).

If the Table object is an exact replication of the SQL Table, where is the model "formed into desired form" ?
Is the array returned by Menu::getMenu() stored somewhere when the row is instancied, or is it created just on demand (when the method is called) ?

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