Question

I have some component code that I’d like to in a CakePHP Task, but I’m not sure that I’m bootstrapping the Controller in the right way.

As a simplified version, I have two components that operate fine when accessed via the extended AppController. One component includes the other, because it calls the other.

The first component:

class BigBrotherComponent extends Object {

    var $Controller = null;

    var $components = array('Sibling');

    function startup(&$controller) {
        $this->Controller =& $controller;
    }

    function doThis() {
       $this->Controller->loadModel('SampleModel');
       $this->Sibling->doThat();
    }
 }

The second component:

class SiblingComponent extends Object {

    var $Controller = null;

    function startup(&$controller) {
        $this->Controller =& $controller;
    }

    function doThat() {
        /* Doing stuff */
    }
 }

To make my operate this from the command line, I define a Shell and a Task. This is the Task, though I’m not sure that I’m doing it right.

App::import('Core', 'Controller');
App::import('Component', 'Session');
App::import('Component', 'BigBrother');

class BigBrotherTask extends Shell {
    var $Controller; 
    var $BigBrother;

    function initialize() {
        $this->Controller =& new Controller();

        // add session to controller, because some components access $this->Controller->Session->setFlash();
        $this->Controller->Session =& new SessionComponent();
        $this->Controller->Session->startup($this->Controller);

        // Initialise the component
        $this->WordToText =& new WordToTextComponent();
        $this->WordToText->startup($this->Controller);
    }

    function doThat() {
        $this->BigBrother->doThat();
    }

}

This type of task works well when the BigBrother component does not include any of it’s own components, or reference any other components off the Controller in the BigBrother component. As you can see, I’ve had to do a slight hacky thing for the Session component.

Is there a better way to initialize and make use of components from tasks, that will properly initialize components and sub components?

Answer 1

I believe I’ve come up with a better way, but still not sure if it’s the best way.

Firstly, the components need to set the controller via the initialize() method. This ensures that the controller is assigned if the component is loaded via a controller or another component. startup() does not get run for components loaded by other components.

Therefore, components should have the following

function initialize(&controller, $settings = null) {
    $this->Controller =& $controller;
}

The next step to make make controller and component initialization a little more like what the dispatcher does.

App::import('Core', 'Controller');

class BigBrotherTask extends Shell {
    var $Controller; 

    function initialize() {
        $this->Controller =& new Controller();
        $this->Controller->components = array('Session', 'WordToText');
        $this->Controller->uses = null;

        $this->Controller->constructClasses();
        $this->Controller->startupProcess();
    }

    function doThat() {
        $this->Controller->BigBrother->doThat();
    }

}

Tasks don’t seem to have a shutdown as a part of their flow, so if your components need to do shutdowns properly, you’ll have to code that in at the end of the Task function, or in the Shell.