Question

i read the yii docs and the following code should work;

well, it doesnt. :))

db is the primary database

db1 and db2 are the secondary databases

what is wrong here ?

the website is online, at www.linkbook.co, and it cant connect to any of the databases

'db' => array(
    'connectionString' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=linkbookco',
    'emulatePrepare' => true,
    'username' => 'user',
    'password' => 'password',
    'charset' => 'utf8',
    'tablePrefix' => '',
),

    'db1' => array(
    'connectionString' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=linkbookco1',
    'username'         => 'user',
    'password' => 'password',
    'charset' => 'utf8',
    'tablePrefix' => '',
    'class'            => 'CDbConnection'          // DO NOT FORGET THIS!
),

    'db2' => array(
    'connectionString' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=linkbookco2',
    'username'         => 'user',
    'password' => 'password',
    'charset' => 'utf8',
    'tablePrefix' => '',
    'class'            => 'CDbConnection'          // DO NOT FORGET THIS!
),

Answer 1

db is the predefined component of Yii, so bedefault CActiveRecord makes connection using db. So for other components you have created using CDbConnection class you have to activate connection for them externally.

SO You need to overwrite getDbConnection() method of CActiveRecord.

Extend the CActiveRecord for specific database connection like db1.
Save this as Db1CActiveRecord.php and place in components directory.

<?php
/**
 * 
 * Used for db1 database connection
 *
 */
class Db1CActiveRecord extends CActiveRecord {

    private static $db1 = null;

    public function getDbConnection()
    {
        if (self::$db1 !== null)
            return self::$db1;
        else
        {
            self::$db1 = Yii::app()->db1;
            if (self::$db1 instanceof CDbConnection)
            {
                self::$db1->setActive(true);
                return self::$db1;
            }
            else
                throw new CDbException(Yii::t('yii','Active Record requires a "db" CDbConnection application component.'));
        }
    }
}

Now you need to use Db1CActiveRecord for the model class of database db1.
Like:

class Db1Model extends Db1CActiveRecord{
   ......
}

Implement this way for both db1 & db2 database.