I am not comfortable with the application making decisions based on hard coded values which might change overtime. For example:
Application makes a decision if a user has access to administration module which has moduleID of 7, then I write the code like:
if(Auth::user()->moduleID == 7){
.....u r administrator..do something here...code....
}
But next time if the somehow the Administration Module ID changes to something else say 4, I don't want to manually search for 7 in all the codes and change to 4.
Is there any best way to avoid hard coding decision statements in laravel...thank you
administration module which has moduleID of 7
You should not care what the id is. Track and lookup records by some other value that you have control over.
Consider adding another column to the table that stores administration modules. Store an identifier in this column that won't change over time.
For your administration record, you could set the identifier to 'admin'.
For those identifiers that really matter - those you'll use for lookups later, consider setting them as class constants.
class Module extends Eloquent
{
const ADMIN = 'admin';
// ...
}
Now you can compare to Module::ADMIN which will never change unless you explicitly alter the constant value defined above. Something like
if (Auth::user()->module->identifier === Module::ADMIN) {
//
}
Related
I have an entity which I've created two setAttribute functions for:
public function setStartAttribute($value) { }
and
public function setEndAttribute($value) { }
These attributes, start and end, are both datetimes which I check against some criteria in each of my setter function before allowing. Under certain conditions, I prevent or allow the start or end attributes to be updated.
I've hit a wall, however, in that if I prevent one of these from being updated, I need to prevent both. In other words, if the user tries to update the entity with a start date which is out of bounds, I need to prevent the start date from being updated, but I also need to prevent the end date from being update.
As these are two separate functions, I'm not sure how to use one to prevent the other in a case like this.
EDIT:
Since the answer is extremely obvious (just do it both in one function) without adding this extra info, I'll add that the part that makes this less straightforward is that I'm using Backpack for Laravel. Within the Backpack admin panel is the CRUD that lets me create or update my entity. I'm using the date_range field type to allow setting the start and end time/dates on my entity. It's upon saving this that I need to be able to pass both the start and end values to a function and validate them, prior to setting them on my entity. I found that creating the two separate functions above setStartAttribute() and setEndAttribute() allowed me to validate those values and choose whether to assign them to the entity, however I need to be able to use one unified function rather than two separate ones. It is this integration with Backpack which makes this problem less straightforward for me.
If those start and end attributes are connected somehow (one can't be set if another is invalid), you better make one method to set both of them. Something like this:
public function setStartAndEnd($start, $end)
{
if ($start is valid && $end is valid)
{
$this->start = $start;
$this->end = $end;
}
}
Which you can use as follows:
$entity->setStartAndEnd($date, $another_date);
I really hope someone can help me.
I need to be able to serve banners in categories which are dependant on a session variable - and can't find a component which does that. So I'd like to extend the Joomla Banner component in order to select banners based on a session variable which contains the category path.
The correct session variable is being stored correctly.
In order to do this I added an option in the banners module .xml to allow for a session variable and the name of the session variable. This is being stored correctly in the module table within the params field along with the other module parameters.
Then I started on the
components > banners > com_banners > models > banners.php
by adding two lines of code in getListQuery where the SQL is assembled. They are:
$sess_vars = $this->getState('filter.sess_vars');
$sess_vars_name = $this->getState('filter.sess_vars_name');
But both variables contain nothing even though the ones the component already has can be retrieved fine. Without a doubt I need to change something somewhere else as well - but just can't figure out what to do.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The first thing to do is not hack the core files, hacking the core prevents you from using the built-in update feature to apply the regular bug fixes and security patches released by Joomla! (e.g. the recently released 2.5.9 version).
Rather make a copy of them and modify it so it's called something else like com_mybanners. Apart from the folder name and the entry point file (i.e. banners.php becomes mybanners.php) you will also want to update the components banners.xml to mybanners.php.(You will need to duplicate and modify both the front end /components/com_banners/ and /administrator/components/mybanners.php.)
Because of the way Banners work (i.e. banners are displayed in a module) you will also need to duplicate and modify /modules/mod_banners/,/modules/mod_banners/mod_banners.php and /modules/mod_banners/mod_banners.xml. Changing mod_banners to mod_mybanners in each location.
In Joomla! components the state is usually populated when JModel is instantiated, however, in this case the component is really about managing banners and recording clicks the display is handled by mod_banners. So, you will want to add some code to mod_mybanners.php to use the session variables you want to act on. Normally when a models state is queried you will collect the variables via JInput and add them to your object's state e.g.
protected function populateState()
{
$jApp = JFactory::getApplication('site');
// Load state from the request.
$pk = $jApp->input->get('id',0,'INT');
$this->setState('myItem.id', $pk);
$offset = $jApp->input->get('limitstart',0,'INT');
$this->setState('list.offset', $offset);
// Load the parameters.
$params = $app->getParams();
$this->setState('params', $params);
// Get the user permissions
$user = JFactory::getUser();
if ((!$user->authorise('core.edit.state', 'com_mycomponent')) && (!$user->authorise('core.edit', 'com_mycomponent')))
{
$this->setState('filter.published', 1);
$this->setState('filter.archived', 2);
}
}
The populateState() method is called when a state is read by the getState method.
This means you will have to change your copy of /components/com_banners/models/banner.php to capture your variables into the objects state similar to my example above.
From there it's all your own code.
You can find all of this information in the Developing a Model-View-Controller tutorial on the Joomla Doc's site
I need to run 2 sites, One for high end customers and one for low end customers.
They both pretty much do the same thing but look different. For example they both might have product A, but the price and description (no duplicate content) will be different.
However, for the most part, they will have different products, high end products for the high end site and low end products for the low end site.
It is easier if both sites use the same underlying structure, so the many overlapping parts won't have to be duplicated. Especially during changes. But it needs to allow for different logic per site when necessary.
So if I point 2 different domains (lets call them highend.com and lowend.com) to the same server. What is the best way to handle this?
Should/Can I determine what domain is being used in the app_controller and specify which layout to use or set a variable to be used by the child controllers? How?
Is there a way I can prefix some fields in the database. For example, if there is a products table and a products.highend_name and a products.lowend_name fields. Then in the code just refer to Product.name but depending on which domain is used, use the correct one. But for overlaping feilds like style_number there is no prefix just products.style_number since its the same either way. Is there a way to set something like this up? How?
Whats the best way to go about doing something like this? Is there a different framework that could handle this better?
In the controller:
$host = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
if($host=='www.posh.com')
{
$this->layout = 'posh';
}
elseif($host=='www.cheap.com')
{
$this->layout = 'cheap';
}
else
{
$this->layout = 'default';
}
Can Magento view/manage our customers by their business name in addition to their contact names to find them easily? It is being used for B2B, so when emails go out they are pulling the customer’s name, instead of the company name which is more appropriate.
Is this a global setting?
thanks in advance.
Magento stores business name on the customer's address by default, so it's a little harder to get to.
There's no reason you cannot add another customer field to put the company name on the customer record itself. That way you'll have no problem accessing it, and can change other screens in the system to reflect it.
If you don't want to go to those lengths, you could always implement a method that pulls the company name from the default address, and save it into the session by default, for easier retrieval.
EDIT: Better idea.
Looking through the sales email templates, there are two methods that are used to grab a customer's name:
$order->getCustomerName();
$order->getBillingAddress()->getName();
I don't see any separate references to the company name, so you should be able to substitute these two methods for your own and get the desired outcome. You'll need to create your own module and override the models for customer/address and sales/order (others have covered this in depth elsewhere). Then create methods that look something like this:
public function getCustomerName() {
if($this->getBillingAddress()->getCompany()) {
return $this->getBillingAddress()->getCompany();
}
return parent::getCustomerName();
}
That's the example for sales order, modify accordingly for customer. Now your company names will be used whenever available, and when they aren't the fallback will be to the original implementation (customer name).
Hope that helps!
Thanks,
Joe
You are correct about the universal application. If you did want just the emails, the concern is whether you have access to your custom function where you need it. If there's no object handy, I'm not positive that you will be able to call just any method that you need to.
An approach that would work in this case would be to override the two objects mentioned below, but to instead add a getCompanyName method to them. That way, you'll have the right objects to call, and you can edit the emails specifically to taste.
So, I'm not quite sure how I should structure this in CakePHP to work correctly in the proper MVC form.
Let's, for argument sake, say I have the following data structure which are related in various ways:
Team
Task
Equipment
This is generally how sites are and is quite easy to structure and make in Cake. For example, I would have the a model, controller and view for each item set.
My problem (and I'm sure countless others have had it and already solved it) is that I have a level above the item sets. So, for example:
Department
Team
Task
Equipment
Department
Team
Task
Equipment
Department
Team
Task
Equipment
In my site, I need the ability for someone to view the site at an individual group level as well as move to view it all together (ie, ignore the groups).
So, I have models, views and controls for Depart, Team, Task and Equipment.
How do I structure my site so that from the Department view, someone can select a Department then move around the site to the different views for Team/Task/Equipment showing only those that belong to that particular Department.
In this same format, is there a way to also move around ignoring the department associations?
Hopefully the following example URLs clarifies anything that was unclear:
// View items while disregarding which group-set record they belong to
http://www.example.com/Team/action/id
http://www.example.com/Task/action/id
http://www.example.com/Equipment/action/id
http://www.example.com/Departments
// View items as if only those associated with the selected group-set record exist
http://www.example.com/Department/HR/Team/action/id
http://www.example.com/Department/HR/Task/action/id
http://www.example.com/Department/HR/Equipment/action/id
Can I get the controllers to function in this manner? Is there someone to read so I can figure this out?
Thanks to those that read all this :)
I think I know what you're trying to do. Correct me if I'm wrong:
I built a project manager for myself in which I wanted the URLs to be more logical, so instead of using something like
http://domain.com/project/milestones/add/MyProjectName I could use
http://domain.com/project/MyProjectName/milestones/add
I added a custom route to the end (!important) of my routes so that it catches anything that's not already a route and treats it as a "variable route".
Router::connect('/project/:project/:controller/:action/*', array(), array('project' => '[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+'));
Whatever route you put means that you can't already (or ever) have a controller by that name, for that reason I consider it a good practice to use a singular word instead of a plural. (I have a Projects Controller, so I use "project" to avoid conflicting with it.)
Now, to access the :project parameter anywhere in my app, I use this function in my AppController:
function __currentProject(){
// Finding the current Project's Info
if(isset($this->params['project'])){
App::import('Model', 'Project');
$projectNames = new Project;
$projectNames->contain();
$projectInfo = $projectNames->find('first', array('conditions' => array('Project.slug' => $this->params['project'])));
$project_id = $projectInfo['Project']['id'];
$this->set('project_name_for_layout', $projectInfo['Project']['name']);
return $project_id;
}
}
And I utilize it in my other controllers:
function overview(){
$this->layout = 'project';
// Getting currentProject id from App Controller
$project_id = parent::__currentProject();
// Finding out what time it is and performing queries based on time.
$nowStamp = time();
$nowDate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s' , $nowStamp);
$twoWeeksFromNow = $nowDate + 1209600;
$lateMilestones = $this->Project->Milestone->find('all', array('conditions'=>array('Milestone.project_id' => $project_id, 'Milestone.complete'=> 0, 'Milestone.duedate <'=> $nowDate)));
$this->set(compact('lateMilestones'));
$currentProject = $this->Project->find('all', array('conditions'=>array('Project.slug' => $this->params['project'])));
$this->set(compact('currentProject'));
}
For your project you can try using a route like this at the end of your routes.php file:
Router::connect('/:groupname/:controller/:action/*', array(), array('groupname' => '[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+'));
// Notice I removed "/project" from the beginning. If you put the :groupname first, as I've done in the last example, then you only have one option for these custom url routes.
Then modify the other code to your needs.
If this is a public site, you may want to consider using named variables. This will allow you to define the group on the URL still, but without additional functionality requirements.
http://example.com/team/group:hr
http://example.com/team/action/group:hr/other:var
It may require custom routes too... but it should do the job.
http://book.cakephp.org/view/541/Named-parameters
http://book.cakephp.org/view/542/Defining-Routes
SESSIONS
Since web is stateless, you will need to use sessions (or cookies). The question you will need to ask yourself is how to reflect the selection (or not) of a specific department. It could be as simple as putting a drop down selection in the upper right that reflects ALL, HR, Sales, etc. When the drop down changes, it will set (or clear) the Group session variable.
As for the functionality in the controllers, you just check for the Session. If it is there, you limit the data by the select group. So you would use the same URLs, but the controller or model would manage how the data gets displayed.
// for all functionality use:
http://www.example.com/Team/action/id
http://www.example.com/Task/action/id
http://www.example.com/Equipment/action/id
You don't change the URL to accommodate for the functionality. That would be like using a different URL for every USER wanting to see their ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER, or BILLING INFO. Where USER would be the group and ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER< and BILLING INFO would be the item sets.
WITHOUT SESSIONS
The other option would be to put the Group filter on each page. So for example on Team/index view you would have a group drop down to filter the data. It would accomplish the same thing without having to set and clear session variables.
The conclusion is and the key thing to remember is that the functionality does not change nor does the URLs. The only thing that changes is that you will be working with filtered data sets.
Does that make sense?