Class App

App is responsible for path management, class location and class loading.

Adding paths

You can add paths to the search indexes App uses to find classes using App::build(). Adding additional controller paths for example would alter where CakePHP looks for controllers. This allows you to split your application up across the filesystem.

Packages

CakePHP is organized around the idea of packages, each class belongs to a package or folder where other classes reside. You can configure each package location in your application using App::build('APackage/SubPackage', $paths) to inform the framework where should each class be loaded. Almost every class in the CakePHP framework can be swapped by your own compatible implementation. If you wish to use your own class instead of the classes the framework provides, just add the class to your libs folder mocking the directory location of where CakePHP expects to find it.

For instance if you'd like to use your own HttpSocket class, put it under
app/Network/Http/HttpSocket.php

Inspecting loaded paths

You can inspect the currently loaded paths using App::path('Controller') for example to see loaded controller paths.

It is also possible to inspect paths for plugin classes, for instance, to see a plugin's helpers you would call App::path('View/Helper', 'MyPlugin')

Locating plugins and themes

Plugins and Themes can be located with App as well. Using App::pluginPath('DebugKit') for example, will give you the full path to the DebugKit plugin. App::themePath('purple'), would give the full path to the purple theme.

Inspecting known objects

You can find out which objects App knows about using App::objects('Controller') for example to find which application controllers App knows about.

Package: Cake\Core
Copyright: Copyright (c) Cake Software Foundation, Inc. (http://cakefoundation.org)
License: MIT License
Link: http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html
Located at Cake/Core/App.php

Method Detail

_checkFatalErrorsource protected static

_checkFatalError( )

Check if a fatal error happened and trigger the configured handler if configured

_loadClasssource protected static

_loadClass( string $name , string $plugin , string $type , string $originalType , boolean $parent )

Helper function to include classes This is a compatibility wrapper around using App::uses() and automatic class loading

Parameters

string $name: unique name of the file for identifying it inside the application
string $plugin: camel cased plugin name if any
string $type: name of the packed where the class is located
string $originalType: type name as supplied initially by the user
boolean $parent: whether to load the class parent or not

Returns

boolean
true indicating the successful load and existence of the class

_loadFilesource protected static

_loadFile( string $name , string $plugin , array $search , string $file , boolean $return )

Helper function to include single files

Parameters

string $name: unique name of the file for identifying it inside the application
string $plugin: camel cased plugin name if any
array $search: list of paths to search the file into
string $file: filename if known, the $name param will be used otherwise
boolean $return: whether this function should return the contents of the file after being parsed by php or just a success notice

Returns

mixed
if $return contents of the file after php parses it, boolean indicating success otherwise

_loadVendorsource protected static

_loadVendor( string $name , string $plugin , string $file , string $ext )

Helper function to load files from vendors folders

Parameters

string $name: unique name of the file for identifying it inside the application
string $plugin: camel cased plugin name if any
string $file: file name if known
string $ext: file extension if known

Returns

boolean
true if the file was loaded successfully, false otherwise

_mapsource protected static

_map( string $file , string $name , string $plugin null )

Maps the $name to the $file.

Parameters

string $file: full path to file
string $name: unique name for this map
string $plugin optional null: camelized if object is from a plugin, the name of the plugin

_mappedsource protected static

_mapped( string $name , string $plugin null )

Returns a file's complete path.

Parameters

string $name: unique name
string $plugin optional null: camelized if object is from a plugin, the name of the plugin

Returns

mixed
file path if found, false otherwise

_packageFormatsource protected static

_packageFormat( )

Sets then returns the templates for each customizable package path

Returns

array
templates for each customizable package path

buildsource public static

build( array $paths array() , boolean|string $mode App::PREPEND )

Sets up each package location on the file system. You can configure multiple search paths for each package, those will be used to look for files one folder at a time in the specified order All paths should be terminated with a Directory separator

Usage:

App::build(array('Model' => array('/a/full/path/to/models/'))); will setup a new search path for the Model package

App::build(array('Model' => array('/path/to/models/')), App::RESET); will setup the path as the only valid path for searching models

App::build(array('View/Helper' => array('/path/to/helpers/', '/another/path/'))); will setup multiple search paths for helpers

App::build(array('Service' => array('%s' . 'Service' . DS)), App::REGISTER); will register new package 'Service'

If reset is set to true, all loaded plugins will be forgotten and they will be needed to be loaded again.

Parameters

array $paths optional array(): associative array with package names as keys and a list of directories for new search paths
boolean|string $mode optional App::PREPEND: App::RESET will set paths, App::APPEND with append paths, App::PREPEND will prepend paths (default) App::REGISTER will register new packages and their paths, %s in path will be replaced by APP path

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::build

coresource public static

core( string $type )

Returns the full path to a package inside the CakePHP core

Usage:

App::core('Cache/Engine'); will return the full path to the cache engines package

Parameters

string $type: Package type.

Returns

array
full path to package

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::core

importsource public static

import( string|array $type null , string $name null , boolean|array $parent true , array $search array() , string $file null , boolean $return false )

Finds classes based on $name or specific file(s) to search. Calling App::import() will not construct any classes contained in the files. It will only find and require() the file.

Parameters

string|array $type optional null: The type of Class if passed as a string, or all params can be passed as a single array to $type.
string $name optional null: Name of the Class or a unique name for the file
boolean|array $parent optional true: boolean true if Class Parent should be searched, accepts key => value array('parent' => $parent, 'file' => $file, 'search' => $search, 'ext' => '$ext'); $ext allows setting the extension of the file name based on Inflector::underscore($name) . ".$ext";
array $search optional array(): paths to search for files, array('path 1', 'path 2', 'path 3');
string $file optional null: full name of the file to search for including extension
boolean $return optional false: Return the loaded file, the file must have a return statement in it to work: return $variable;

Returns

boolean
true if Class is already in memory or if file is found and loaded, false if not

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#including-files-with-app-import

initsource public static

init( )

Initializes the cache for App, registers a shutdown function.

loadsource public static

load( string $className )

Method to handle the automatic class loading. It will look for each class' package defined using App::uses() and with this information it will resolve the package name to a full path to load the class from. File name for each class should follow the class name. For instance, if a class is name MyCustomClass the file name should be MyCustomClass.php

Parameters

string $className: the name of the class to load

Returns

boolean
bool

locationsource public static

location( string $className )

Returns the package name where a class was defined to be located at

Parameters

string $className: name of the class to obtain the package name from

Returns

string|null
Package name, or null if not declared

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::location

objectssource public static

objects( string $type , string|array $path null , boolean $cache true )

Returns an array of objects of the given type.

Example usage:

App::objects('plugin'); returns array('DebugKit', 'Blog', 'User');

App::objects('Controller'); returns array('PagesController', 'BlogController');

You can also search only within a plugin's objects by using the plugin dot syntax.

App::objects('MyPlugin.Model'); returns array('MyPluginPost', 'MyPluginComment');

When scanning directories, files and directories beginning with . will be excluded as these are commonly used by version control systems.

Parameters

string $type: Type of object, i.e. 'Model', 'Controller', 'View/Helper', 'file', 'class' or 'plugin'
string|array $path optional null: Optional Scan only the path given. If null, paths for the chosen type will be used.
boolean $cache optional true: Set to false to rescan objects of the chosen type. Defaults to true.

Returns

mixed
Either false on incorrect / miss. Or an array of found objects.

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::objects

pathsource public static

path( string $type , string $plugin null )

Used to read information stored path

Usage:

App::path('Model'); will return all paths for models

App::path('Model/Datasource', 'MyPlugin'); will return the path for datasources under the 'MyPlugin' plugin

Parameters

string $type: type of path
string $plugin optional null: name of plugin

Returns

array
array

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::path

pathssource public static

paths( )

Get all the currently loaded paths from App. Useful for inspecting or storing all paths App knows about. For a paths to a specific package use App::path()

Returns

array
An array of packages and their associated paths.

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::paths

pluginPathsource public static

pluginPath( string $plugin )

Gets the path that a plugin is on. Searches through the defined plugin paths.

Usage:

App::pluginPath('MyPlugin'); will return the full path to 'MyPlugin' plugin'

Deprecated

3.0.0 Use CakePlugin::path() instead.

Parameters

string $plugin: CamelCased/lower_cased plugin name to find the path of.

Returns

string
full path to the plugin.

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::pluginPath

shutdownsource public static

shutdown( )

Object destructor.

Writes cache file if changes have been made to the $_map. Also, check if a fatal error happened and call the handler.

themePathsource public static

themePath( string $theme )

Finds the path that a theme is on. Searches through the defined theme paths.

Usage:

App::themePath('MyTheme'); will return the full path to the 'MyTheme' theme

Parameters

string $theme: theme name to find the path of.

Returns

string
full path to the theme.

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::themePath

usessource public static

uses( string $className , string $location )

Declares a package for a class. This package location will be used by the automatic class loader if the class is tried to be used

Usage:

App::uses('MyCustomController', 'Controller'); will setup the class to be found under Controller package

App::uses('MyHelper', 'MyPlugin.View/Helper'); will setup the helper class to be found in plugin's helper package

Parameters

string $className: the name of the class to configure package for
string $location: the package name

Link

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-utility-libraries/app.html#App::uses

Constants summary

`string`	`APPEND` Append paths	`'append'`
`string`	`PREPEND` Prepend paths	`'prepend'`
`string`	`REGISTER` Register package	`'register'`
`boolean`	`RESET` Reset paths instead of merging	`true`

Properties summary

$_cacheChangesource

protected static boolean

Indicates whether the class cache should be stored again because of an addition to it

false

$_classMapsource

protected static array

Holds the location of each class

array()

$_mapsource

protected static array

Holds key/value pairs of $type => file path.

array()

$_objectCacheChangesource

protected static boolean

Indicates whether the object cache should be stored again because of an addition to it

false

$_objectssource

protected static array

Holds and key => value array of object types.

array()

$_packageFormatsource

protected static array

Holds the templates for each customizable package path in the application

array()

$_packagessource

protected static array

Holds the possible paths for each package name

array()

$bootstrappingsource

public static boolean

Indicates the the Application is in the bootstrapping process. Used to better cache loaded classes while the cache libraries have not been yet initialized

false

$legacysource

public static array

Maps an old style CakePHP class type to the corresponding package

array(
    'models' => 'Model',
    'behaviors' => 'Model/Behavior',
    'datasources' => 'Model/Datasource',
    'controllers' => 'Controller',
    'components' => 'Controller/Component',
    'views' => 'View',
    'helpers' => 'View/Helper',
    'shells' => 'Console/Command',
    'libs' => 'Lib',
    'vendors' => 'Vendor',
    'plugins' => 'Plugin',
    'locales' => 'Locale'
)

$returnsource

public static boolean

Whether or not to return the file that is loaded.

false

$searchsource

public static array

Paths to search for files.

array()

$typessource

public static array

List of object types and their properties

array(
    'class' => array('extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'file' => array('extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'model' => array('extends' => 'AppModel', 'core' => false),
    'behavior' => array('suffix' => 'Behavior', 'extends' => 'Model/ModelBehavior', 'core' => true),
    'controller' => array('suffix' => 'Controller', 'extends' => 'AppController', 'core' => true),
    'component' => array('suffix' => 'Component', 'extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'lib' => array('extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'view' => array('suffix' => 'View', 'extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'helper' => array('suffix' => 'Helper', 'extends' => 'AppHelper', 'core' => true),
    'vendor' => array('extends' => null, 'core' => true),
    'shell' => array('suffix' => 'Shell', 'extends' => 'AppShell', 'core' => true),
    'plugin' => array('extends' => null, 'core' => true)
)

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Licensed under the MIT License.
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http://api.cakephp.org/2.7/class-App.html