A PHP design pattern for the model part [PHP Zend Framework]
- by Matthieu
I have a PHP MVC application using Zend Framework. As presented in the quickstart, I use 3 layers for the model part :
Model (business logic)
Data mapper
Table data gateway (or data access object, i.e. one class per SQL table)
The model is UML designed and totally independent of the DB.
My problem is : I can't have multiple instances of the same "instance/record".
For example : if I get, for example, the user "Chuck Norris" with id=5, this will create a new model instance wich members will be filled by the data mapper (the data mapper query the table data gateway that query the DB). Then, if I change the name to "Duck Norras", don't save it in DB right away, and re-load the same user in another variable, I have "synchronisation" problems... (different instances for the same "record")
Right now, I use the Multiton pattern : like Singleton, but multiple instances indexed by a key (wich is the user ID in our example). But this is complicating my developpement a lot, and my testings too.
How to do it right ?
