Log Database Errors

First read here: Catch database errors before it’s too late

It's as simple as adding an onError function to your app_model.php file, and whenever there is a database error, the error in the database will be logged in your CakePHP log.

Edit /app/app_model.php and add the following function:

    public function onError() {
        $db = ConnectionManager::getDataSource('default');
        $err = $db->lastError();
        $this->log($err);
        $this->log($this->data);
    }

Simple Form Security

First read this post: Make your CakePHP forms a lot more secure

The nuts and bolts of it is that by simply adding the Security component, it will automatically add a hash to all your forms and if someone tries modifying your form, it won't work.

And you can implment it as easy as this: Edit /app/app_controller.php and change the var $components line to include Security like this:

    var $components = array('Auth', 'Security', 'Session');

Stylesheets and Print Stylesheet

Adding a stylesheet to your site is as simple as changing the default layout.

Open /app/views/layouts/default.ctp and within the first 10 lines of the page is the line

echo $this->Html->css('cake.generic');

Cake comes with a default style in /app/webroot/css/cake.generic.css which you can edit until your heart's content. Or you can create your own stylesheet and put it into the same folder and change that line to direct your pages to the new style. Observe how the .css extension is not included in the cake function call.

For a Print Stylesheet, it is a little different. To set a print stylesheet you need to set the options to include the media type.

echo $this->Html->css('cake.print', 'stylesheet', array('media' => 'print'));