This is an article discussion thread for discussing the SitePoint article, “The CakePHP Framework: Your First Bite”
I’ve just began working with CakePHP and am having a ball so far. This isn’t only to do with the fact I think it’s an excellent framework, but also because there is decent documentation, an active and responsive Google group, as well as IRC channel.
The times when I have needed help because of problems or lack of documentation, the group and IRC channel have always come to the rescue in quicktime!
This is not the largest application built using CakePHP, but was a cool project to develop for the client…
Not so simple application built with CakePHP
Limitations, if reached are easy to overcome…
Very nice! I hope to use this in my PHP Practices!
I’m to use this framework from recent time. I like it very much. It is a good tool for middle-complexity web-projects
Nice read… another Framework worth a look for small to medium size webapps is Code Igniter! I like CI even better than CakePHP. 
Hmm, they all work fine for me. What problem are you seeing?
LOL! I’ll be sure to pass this onto our English editor! 
After reading the article I’ve desided not to use Cake. It looks nice for simple things. But as soon as you start doing complex stuff, you will find yourself battling the limitations of the framework. Which is a pain in the buttocks
All in all, this was a very good article but when you consider the complexities of a real application I doubt I could find a use for the framework. Nevertheless, it may be useful when I want to draw something up quickly on the fly 
For those that have used the framework, what has been the performance? any issues?
First of all, it seems like the documentation links near the end of the article do not work. A bit disapointing.
I have been comparison shopping for a framework for my large (already running) application (I used codecharge studio for most of it, but am feeling the limits of this otherwise excelent program).
Cake looks nice, but I am really liking the Hierarchical Model View Controler concept employed by (and far as I can tell, only by) the Claw (http://clawphp.org/) framework. I am also concerned with how flexible the Object Relational Mapping is (it looks like no other framework is any better in this regard, ORM seems to be the standard everywhere).
I am currently torn between using Claw with my own customized models (and or Propel where it makes sense) or taking Cake and trying to add on the HMVC concept (and again writing my own custom models).
I believe the correct phrase is, “You can eat your cake and have it too”. It makes sense to have your cake and eat it, but to eat your cake and still have it is a novel concept; this is why the phrase is used.
Information on the original correct saying and how it has been corrupted (and misused) can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_one’s_cake_and_eat_it_too
–tparkin
I’m having trouble getting the first stage to work. The scaffolding part…i’ve created all the files and the http://localhost/ looks good, but when I try http://localhost/notes/ I get a url not found…
I have just started to learning Symfony Project framework. Anyone can tell which one is better?
I’ve tried to pick up cake on several occasions to “fill the gap” on some project. In the end, I’ve never gotten it to fit, there is a large gap in examples… Excluding Hello World, and Your first blog. Cake assumes you’ll automagically know the proper/best/their way of doing things, and when you don’t you can’t really find examples of how to do things the “right way”.
The html handling is also pretty basic, I had a need for multiple skins for a site based on different environmental factors, and I found myself struggling more with the skin handling than writing for the business logic of the site. Default cake installs it’s own cake templates if you don’t have anything there, but this makes it hard to figure out what you have to put out there.
I’m also concerned that I’ve not seen any “big” apps deployed in Cake. Rails has tons of examples like most of the stuff from the folks that did BasecampHQ. I’ve just not seen Cake really picked up in general.
One of the best parts about Cake can also be a big old pain in the ****. Cake itself is kept ENTIRELY separate from your code, I think this is AWESOME. Upgrading cake distrobutions becomes so much simpler, since you don’t have to worry about hacks, and other issues it all just upgrades nicely. I did download a previous cake version, wrote a couple quick apps then upgraded it with no problem. Of course there may be times where your code might conflict, but the chances are also so much less than other frameworks.
This separation is also a major pain in the neck until you get to understand it. For the longest time I threw my hands up in the air and left it in the “development” state because everytime I tried to break out the directories, it blew up on me. I hate fighting with a framework! In the end I finally understood it, and the crazy pathfinding capabilities, but it’s a pain unless you get it, and getting it can be tough.
In all, I’ve not seen a project through to completion with Cake, I’m certain it’s because I find I can get things done faster doing it “my way”, no matter how much I would like to use this type of framework.
I’d like to see some applications come out using Cake that are groundbreakers, I think the developers have a good thing, if the rest of us can wrap thier heads around it.
I hate coding sql,and I was going to have a try for a long time.But now I find design a class which handle sql like cake is not hard .So I give up my plan.
Many issues. This framework is a standard tool. It is not giving you all abilities you need. Before using it - you must consider a project functional specification with it. But it is really usefull for easy and middle-complexity projects
Agreeing absolutely 
This framework is not for complex projects… Let me think… Can’t get any framework form my head that can be used with real complex projects
dg_den_golotyuk and Dean C: Care to elaborate? All both of you mention is a Framework/Cake being inflexible and not suited for complex projects, but you give no examples. And then I take a look at your portfolio/sites, and it looks exactly like something you could (and would) do with with Cake. So, I’m just wondering …
Wow.
I mean wow.
Personally I’ve never thought too highly of SitePoint (or, by extension, it’s readership I suppose), but this level of ignorance really takes the cake (pun not specifically intended, but a happy coincidence).
Let’s break down and analyze that statement:
(1) “This framework is not for complex projects”.
Uhh, have you done any complex projects with it? Have you done any complex projects period?? I will grant you that getting into the framework was hard for me because of documentation, but it’s gotten a whole lot better since then. Unless you have a medical excuse (like ADD) there is no way that a couple hours of your time won’t get you into this framework.
(2) “Can’t get any framework form my head that can be used with real complex projects”.
K, I’m not completely sure what that means, but I can only assume by your continual references to complexity that you prefer to write sloppy, unmaintainable code.
I challange anyone to come up with a project that’s too “complex” for this framework. While I agree that it’s not right for all projects, saying it can’t handle “complex” projects means you are either highly intelligent or extremely dense. More likely the latter.