Multi-language Support

To allow your application to appear in multiple languages, first change all displayable text to utilize the __() function. For example, for echoed text like the following:

echo 'This text';

Replace it with the following:

__('This text');

For variables, such as the following:

$directions = array('N' => 'North', 'S' => 'South', 'E' => 'East', 'W' => 'West');

Replace it with the following:

$directions = array('N' => __('North', true), 'S' => __('South', true), 'E' => __('East', true), 'W' => __('West', true));

Then build your /app/locale/default.pot file using the console

# cd /app
# /cake/console/cake i18n extract

Accept default options and the file is created. Edit the /app/locale/default.pot with a program like Poedit, add your translations, then save the file in the appropriate directory as a catalog (.po file) e.g. /app/locale/spa/LC_MESSAGES/default.po Be sure to re-extract and update the .pot and catalog files every time you add new text to your application. To add a language to the beginning of each path add the following to your /app/config/routes.php:

  /* For internationalization */
  Router::connect('/:language/:controller/:action/*', array(), array('language' => '[a-z]{3}'));

To specify a default language, add the following to your /app/config/core.php and add the following lines:

  /* For internationalization */
  Configure::write('Config.language', 'eng');

Now to create a language switching link use the following:

  echo $this->Html->link('Español', array('language' => 'spa'));

Ensure Cookies and Session components are loaded and put the following functions in the /app/app_controller.php:

var $components = array('Session', 'Cookie');
 
function beforeFilter() {
  $this->_setLanguage();
}

function _setLanguage() {
  if ($this->Cookie->read('lang') && !$this->Session->check('Config.language')) {
    $this->Session->write('Config.language', $this->Cookie->read('lang'));
  }
  else if (isset($this->params['language']) && ($this->params['language'] !=  $this->Session->read('Config.language'))) {
    $this->Session->write('Config.language', $this->params['language']);
    $this->Cookie->write('lang', $this->params['language'], false, '20 days');
  }
}

Lastly, create the /app/app_helper.php file

params['language'])) {
      $url['language'] = $this->params['language'];
    }
    return parent::url($url, $full);
  }
}
?>

Form Helper

When using the Form helper to create a form, there are some options you can utilize to make your forms better.

Radio

The following form radio selection is named 'Radio name' and lists two options, 'label1' and 'label2', with 'label1' selected by default.

echo $this->Form->input('Radio name', array('type' => 'radio', 'legend' => false, 'options' => array('value1' => 'label1', 'value2' => 'label2'), 'default' => 'value1')); 

Selection

The following form selection displays a select box with 4 directions and their corresponding single letter values and includes an empty first selection and a default selection of West.

$dirs = array('N' => 'North', 'E' => 'East', 'S' => 'South', 'W' => 'West');
echo $this->Form->input('street_dir', array('label' => __('Direction', true), 'type' => 'select', 'options' => $dirs, 'empty' => true, 'default' => 'W'));

Database Configuration for MSSQL

If you are connecting to a MSSQL database, first ensure that your php-mssql package is installed. A simple command can show you this:

$ rpm -qa | grep php-mssql

The output should look something like this:

php-mssql-5.3.8-4.el6.remi.x86_64

Next check that freetds is installed.

$ rpm -qa | grep freetds

The output should look something like this:

freetds-0.82-6.el6.x86_64

You should now be able to connect to your MSSQL database directly from the command line. Make sure to replace the server, user and password with valid information.

$ /usr/bin/tsql -S [mssql.servername.or.ip] -U [ValidUser]
locale is "en-US.UTF-8"
locale charset is "UTF-8"
Password: [password]
1>

Enter "quit" to exit your successful connection. If the tsql command doesn't return the 1> prompt, verify that you can get to your MSSQL server with the following command:

ssh [mssql.servername.or.ip] -p 1433

Also verify that your username and password are valid.
At this point you can set your database configuration to connect to the database.

    var $default = array(
        'driver' => 'mssql',
        'persistent' => false,
        'host' => 'mssql.server.or.ip',
        'login' => 'username',
        'password' => 'password',
        'database' => 'database',
        'prefix' => ''
    );

Through much trial and error I've discovered that if you connect directly to the server in this manner some commands, such as mssql_bind, mssql_execute, and mssql_init don't work. Now you could setup and execute stored procedure commands through mssql_query this isn't as secure.
Instead, set up a freetds configuration for the server, connect with that instead, and the commands will now work fine.
Edit /etc/freetds.conf and add the following block:

[ServerIdentifier]
        host = [mssql.servername.or.ip]
        port = 1433
        tds version = 8.0

Then use the ServerIdentifier you chose instead of the server name or ip in the database configuration host variable and you're all set.

Multiple Applications, One Cake (or more)

With running multiple CakePHP applications, keeping them all up to date with the latest security fixes can be an issue. Instead of having to update each one individually, having a shared cake installation can be beneficial.

While there are many different methods of doing this, I couldn't get any of the ones I tried to work. So I deconstructed the process and made it VERY simple and functional. Obviously since we are using symlinks this is applicable only on Linux.

Step 1: Extract CakePHP to where you want your application to reside. e.g. /var/www/html/myApp/
Step 2: Extract CakePHP to where you want your Cake to reside. For ease in updating, I named mine the same as the version number. e.g. /var/www/cakephp-1.3.11
Step 3: While unnecessary, I found it convenient to create a symlink to the cake directory named 'cake', otherwise you have to either name your cake folder the same every update, or update all your application symlinks

$ ln -s /var/www/cakephp-1.3.11 /var/www/cake

Step 4: Delete the cake directory in your application.

$ rm -fr /var/www/html/myApp/cake

Step 5: Create a symlink in the application folder to the shared cake folder.

$ ln -s /var/www/cake/cake /var/www/html/myApp/cake

Now any application that has that symlink in it instead of the cake folder will use the shared folder. Update the shared folder once, all applications that are sharing it get updated.
Step 1: Extract new version of cake to same directory as old version of cake. e.g. /var/www/cakephp-1.3.12
Step 2: Update your shared simple symlink to the new directory

$ ln -f -s /var/www/cakephp-1.3.12 /var/www/cake

That easy.

If you want to have an application use an older version of Cake, just install it in the application itself as normal, OR install it next to the other version and change the symlink in the app folder to match the different version of cake.
Step 1: Extract different version of cake for sharing. e.g. /var/www/cakephp-2.0.0-RC2
Step 2: Update your application's symlink to the new directory

$ ln -f -s /var/www/cakephp-2.0.0-RC2/cake /var/www/html/my2.0App/cake

Database Configuration for Oracle

If you are connecting to an Oracle database, first ensure that your php_oci8 extension is installed. A simple php page can show you this:

<?php
  phpinfo();
?>

View the page and you should see a heading "OCI8" and it should tell you the version and if it is enabled. Next ensure you can talk to the database. Another simple php file can do this for you. This page will list all tables in the database (code from Oracle's website)

<?php
  $conn = oci_connect('username', 'password', 'host/database');
  $stid = oci_parse($conn, 'select table_name from user_tables');
  oci_execute($stid);
  echo "\n";
  while (($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_ASSOC+OCI_RETURN_NULLS)) != false) {
    echo "\n";
    foreach ($row as $item) {
      echo '  \n";
    }
    echo "\n";
  }
  echo '
'.($item !== null ? htmlentities($item, ENT_QUOTES) : ' ')."
';
?>

Now that you know you can access your Oracle database via php, configure your CakePHP connection. Edit /app/config/database.php

var $default = array(
  'driver' => 'oracle',
  'connect' => 'oci_connect',
  'persistent' => false,
  'host' => 'host',
  'port' => 1521,
  'login' => 'username',
  'password' => 'password',
  'database' => 'host:1521/database',
  'prefix' => '',
);

And that's all there is to it.

Reset Forgotten Password

For a secure application one issue that will arise repeatedly is users forgetting their passwords. One method of correcting this is to allow users to reset their passwords by submitting their email address. Since the new password will be only be sent to a valid email address, only the appropriate user will know the new password.

For applications open to the public this method is not advised since anyone could possibly find a valid user email address and spam them with reset passwords.

First create the form /app/views/users/forgot.ctp

<h2>Forgot Password</h2>
<p>Submit your email address and a new password will be emailed to you.</p>
<?php
    echo $form->create('User');
    echo $form->input('email');
    echo $form->end('Send Password');
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.getElementById('UserEmail').focus()
</script>

Next edit your Users controller at /app/controllers/users_controller.php and add the forgot function.

    function forgot(){
        if(!empty($this->data)){
            $user = $this->User->findByEmail($this->data['User']['email']);
            if($user){
                $user['User']['password'] = $this->__generatePassword();
                // Since my users model requires a confirm_password to match the password on update, it is required here
                // See http://drug-ed.blogspot.com/2011/08/authentication-and-passwords.html
                $user['User']['confirm_password'] = $user['User']['password'];
                if ($this->__sendEmail($user['User']['email'], 'New Password', $user['User'], 'newpass')) {
                    if ($this->User->save($user['User'], array('fieldList' => array('password')))) {
                        $this->Session->setFlash(__('An email has been sent with your new password.', true));
                        $this->redirect(array('action' => 'login'));
                    } else {
                        $this->Session->setFlash(__('The password cound not be saved. Please try again.', true));
                    }
                } else {
                    $this->Session->setFlash(__('The email could not be sent. Please try again.', true));
                }
            } else {
                $this->Session->setFlash('User could not be found.');
            }
        }
    }

My __sendEmail() function above is described in detail here. Here is my __generatePassword function. Feel free to use it or create your own.

    function __generatePassword($length = 8){
        $characters = 'abcdefghijklmnpqrstuvwxyz';
        $numbers = '123456789'; // No 0 or O so as not to confuse
        $more = '!@#$%^&_+=-';
        $password = '';
        $alt = time();
        for($i = 0; $i <= $length; $i++){
            $alt += rand() % 10;
            if($alt % 3 == 1){
                if($alt % 2 == 1){
                    $password .= strtoupper($characters[(rand() % strlen($characters))]);
                } else {
                    $password .= $characters[(rand() % strlen($characters))];
                }
            } elseif($alt % 3 == 2){
                $password .= $numbers[(rand() % strlen($numbers))];       
            } else {
                $password .= $more[(rand() % strlen($more))];       
            }
        }
        return $password;
    }

Lastly, create your email templates. They can be quite simple. /app/views/elements/email/text/newpass.ctp

A new password has been requested for the account: <?php echo $data['username'].'.'.PHP_EOL.PHP_EOL; ?>
Your new password is: <?php echo $data['password'].PHP_EOL.PHP_EOL; ?>
Please use this password to log in, then you can change your password by clicking "Change Password."

Since the email is sent before saving, the password isn't hashed yet and will be visible to the user.

Lastly, ensure that you allow access to the /users/forgot view by editing /app/app_controller.php and add 'forgot' to your $this->Auth->allow() line.

Sending Email

Sending email in CakePHP is quite simple, however, it can be simpler, especially if you want to follow the DRY methodology. In the controller you want to send email from simply add the following function:

    function __sendEmail($to, $subject, $data, $template, $cc = false){
        $this->Email->reset();
        $this->Email->from = 'Your Name Here<your@email.here>';
        $this->Email->replyTo = 'your@email.here';
        $this->Email->additionalParams = '-fyour@email.here';
        $this->Email->sendAs = 'both';
        $this->Email->template = $template;
        $this->Email->subject = $subject;
        $this->Email->to = $to;
        if($cc) $this->Email->cc = array($cc);
        $this->set('data', $data);
        if ($this->Email->send()) {
            return true;
        } else {
            return false;
        }    
    }

Now you can call it with a single line:

$this->__sendEmail('to@email.here', 'Subject', $data, 'templateName', 'cc@email.here'));