Active record attribute defaults

Yii 1.1 General Discussion
1

What is the best approach to assign default values to an active record?




protected function afterConstruct() {

    $this->someAttribute = 'default value';

    parrent::afterConstruct();

}

In some old code i found:




public function attributeDefaults() {

	return array(

		'someAttribute' => 'default value',

	);

}

Thanks.

2

If it’s a static default value:


public $myattribute='defaultvalue';

If it’s dynamic, use the afterConstruct() approach.

3

Okay, but will “public $myattribute=‘defaultvalue’;” be overwritten by the DB value of that field (which it should be)?

4

No, why you think it should be? This default value in the model has precedence over the db value (not 100% sure, give it a try, please). But if you prefer the DB default, simply don’t add a default attribute.

5

And you can always assign the value you need after you create the model…

For example in actionCreate()




$model=new YourModel;

$model->attribute1=value1;

$model->attribute2=value2;

...
6

Hmm…

To be more conrete;

I have a parentclass called “Category” which is extended by “ProductCategory” and “ForumCategory”. Every type of category has it’s own unique identifier, because they use the same DB table.

When i do:




$cat = new ForumCategory;

$cat->save();

I don’t want to explicitly “$cat->type = ‘forumCategory’”. Instead the ForumCategory class should take care of this.

Thanks for your help.

7

Uhm. So what’s wrong with:




ForumCategory extends Category

{

    public $type='forumCategory';

...

}


ProductCategory extends Category

{

    public $type='productCategory';

...

}
8

if you need the values only when you’re saving, set them inside beforeSave()

or else set them inside init()

9

Okay, thanks.

I’ll stick with Mike’s solution.