Comments on: A Follow-up on the Zend Framework Quickstart Tutorial: The Model

By: Construyendo capas Models sólidas en MVC Zend Framework « Olagato’s blog

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:55:34 +0000

[...] complemeto a esta lectura, está también este otro artículo de Ekini, otro gurú de Zend, donde muestra un ejemplo práctico de codificación de la capa Model [...]

By: Wenbert

Wenbert — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:28:14 +0000

… the comments CSS is messed up. I will fix this later. Have to work ;-)

By: Wenbert

Wenbert — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:26:59 +0000

Thanks for taking your time to comment on the mistakes of this article Thai.

I have corrected the
//$group_model->save($data); $group_model->save();

For the init() method, I think FlashMessenger is a built-in view helper that you can use out-of-box. I am using ZF 1.8.x and the FlashMessenger seemed to work when I:
$this->_flash_messenger = $this->_helper->FlashMessenger;

I agree with you. Most of the cases I have encountered, 2 classes is enough. One is a class that extends Zend_Db_Table and another that extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract. This article is sort of like a follow-up on the Zend Framework Quickstart which uses 3 different classes for one model.

It is always good to know other ways of implementing models. I do not have in-depth knowledge of the different design patterns, so this article also serves as a “note” to me when I try to remember things. It is part of my learning process.

By: Thai Bui

Thai Bui — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:02:06 +0000

I’ve noticed a lots of mistake in your article, I’ll come from bottom to top:
- function saveAction(), in line $group_model->save($data), where is $data come from? it should be $this->save() instead right, cause you already set the attributes for the entity.
- function init(), line $this->_helper->FlashMessenger;, again, where is FlashMessenger?
- And what is your intention when split your model into 3 different classes (DAO, DTO and Business Object?).
In my opinion, which such a simple case like that, just 1 or 2 classes is enough, for example:
class Group extends Zend_Db_Table {
protected $_name = ‘group’;

// The most simple case, with out validation
public function addNewGroup($group){
$this->insert($group);
}

// A bit more complext, pass and object that already validated
// The object
public function addNewGroup(Default_Model_Group $group){
$this->insert(array(
‘name’ => $group->getName(),
‘description’ => $group->getDescription()
));
}
}

Then in the controller, it’s more simple than your code, just receive the data, and pass it to the Default_Model_Group or impact it directly into Group without validation.