CakePHP: get user info in models

Question

I'm moving some of my find code inside models.

Previously in my controller I had

$this->Book->Review->find('first', array(
    'conditions' => array(
        'Review.book_id' => $id,
        'Review.user_id' => $this->Auth->user('id')
    )
));

so in my Review model I put something like

function own($id) {
    $this->contain();
    $review = $this->find('first', array(
        'conditions' => array(
            'Review.book_id' => $id,
            'Review.user_id' => AuthComponent::user('id')
        )
    ));
    return $review;
}

So I'm calling AuthComponent statically from the Model. I know I can do this for the method AuthComponent::password(), which is useful for validation. But I'm getting errors using the method AuthComponent::user(), in particular

Fatal error: Call to a member function check() on a non-object in /var/www/MathOnline/cake/libs/controller/components/auth.php on line 663

Is there a way to get the info about the currently logged user from a model?

Tyson

Answer 1

There is a nice solution by Matt Curry. You store the data of the current logged user in the app_controller using the beforeFilter callback and access it later using static calls. A description can be found here: http://www.pseudocoder.com/archives/2008/10/06/accessing-user-sessions-from-models-or-anywhere-in-cakephp-revealed/

---

EDIT: the above link is outdated: https://github.com/mcurry/cakephp_static_user

Mimosa

Thank you, this seems the best solution! – Tyson

Answer 2

Create a new function in the "app_model.php" ("AppModel.php" in CakePHP 2.x), so it will be available at all models within our application:

function getCurrentUser() {
  // for CakePHP 1.x:
  App::import('Component','Session');
  $Session = new SessionComponent();

  // for CakePHP 2.x:
  App::uses('CakeSession', 'Model/Datasource');
  $Session = new CakeSession();


  $user = $Session->read('Auth.User');

  return $user;
}

in the model:

$user = $this->getCurrentUser();
$user_id = $user['id'];
$username = $user['username'];

Salto

Answer 3

The way that I use is this:

App::import('component', 'CakeSession');        
$thisUserID = CakeSession::read('Auth.User.id');

It seems to work quite nicely :-)

Kozak

Answer 4

I think the code is fine as it is and belongs in the Controller, or at the very least it needs to receive the ids from the Controller and not try to get them itself. The Model should only be concerned with fetching data from a data store and returning it. It must not be concerned with how the data is handled in the rest of the application or where the parameters to its request are coming from. Otherwise you paint yourself into a corner where the ReviewModel can only retrieve data for logged in users, which might not always be what you want.

As such, I'd use a function signature like this:

function findByBookAndUserId($book_id, $user_id) {
    …
}

$this->Review->findByBookAndUserId($id, $this->Auth->user('id'));

Quartus

I have many request that only fetch data linked to the current user. Just trying to simplify the code without having to pass the user id everywhere. – Tyson

Just to add a few examples, by having your model method expect a controller (with session data), you can no longer easily use that model method in shells or test cases (in which there is no controller or session). – Wanyen

@deizel Good point, too. This move can create unnecessary dependencies just for the sake of saving ~20 characters of code... – Quartus

Answer 5

I think this is not good idea to get value from Session. Better solution to get logged user id inside any model simply try this:

AuthComponent::user('id');

This will work almost every where. View, Model and Controller

Enterprising

Answer 6

Dirtiest way would be to just access the user information in the Session. Least amount of overhead associated with that.

The "proper" way would probably be to instantiate the AuthComponent object, so that it does all the stuff it needs to be fully operational. Much like a death star, the AuthComponent doesn't really work well when not fully setup.

To get a new AC object, in the model:

App::import( 'Component', 'Auth' );
$this->Auth = new AuthComponent();

Now you can use $this->Auth in the model, same as you would in the controller.

Rosetta

Notice (8): Undefined property: AuthComponent::$Session [CORE/cake/libs/controller/components/auth.php, line 663] Fatal error: Call to a member function check() on a non-object in /var/www/MathOnline/cake/libs/controller/components/auth.php on line 663 – Tyson

Instantiating models yourself, especially Controllers or Components, is tricky business. Better use ClassRegistry::getInstance() or ClassRegistry::init() (off the top of my head). – Quartus

@Quartus would you recommend using those functions (instead) always rather than App::import? I've used App::import for models inside AppController quite a few times, never had any probs. But I'm willing to change if you think it's a better way of doing it -- do you recommend it? – Rosetta

The thing is, App::import() just imports the .php file which contains the Class, it doesn't instantiate anything. Some Classes depend on certain arguments to their constructor, Components for example expect a reference to a Controller. The best way to construct classes correctly is to just get an already existing instance from the ClassRegistry (saves memory, too). Otherwise, leave it to the ClassRegistry to instantiate the Class (not sure if it does it for Components that easily). – Quartus

In CakePHP 2.2. the syntax is: App::uses('AuthComponent', 'Controller/Component'); $this->Auth = new AuthComponent(); – Chesnut

Answer 7

For CakePHP 3.x this easy component is available: http://cakemanager.org/docs/utils/1.0/components/globalauth/. Direct accessing the Session is not possible because of different SessionKeys.

With the GlobalAuthComponent you can access your user-data everywhere with: Configure::read('GlobalAuth');.

Greetz

Bob

Pinero

Answer 8

I use cake 2.2 and these both work great:

$this->Session->read('Auth.User');
//or
$this->Auth->user();

You can also get a field of currently logged in user:

$this->Session->read('Auth.User.email');
//or
$this->Auth->user()['email'];

Rustproof

In beforeFilter of your Controller, assign user variable into Model's variable like: $this->MyModel->user = $this->Session->read('Auth.user'); Now you can call 'user' in your model. – Rustproof

The only issue with that is then you have to assign it for every single model, which means that you are going to end up with a lot of memory usage. – Lagomorph

Actually, this is the same as accepted solution, except i told you to use it in the controller you need. But the accepted solution suggests that you use it in app controller, which means literally more memory usage than only in needed controller. – Rustproof

Once you need this in more than one controller code duplication appears. And you would be coupling every controller to a particular implementation as well. This should definitely go into the model. Or at least into a component where you could change the implementation only once. – Gaga

Answer 9

None of these solutions work in CakePHP version 3. Anyone know of a way to do this? Right now, I'm completely stepping around the framework by accessing the $_SESSION variable directly from my model.

Damalus

This is not recommended by cake: book.cakephp.org/3.0/en/development/sessions.html#sessions: Usage of $_SESSION is generally avoided in CakePHP – Pinero

Understood, but how do you access the session object from a model then in 3.0? The only way that I have found to do it is via $_SESSION – Damalus

I created the following to get the auth-data everywhere... cakemanager.org/docs/utils/1.0/components/globalauth. It's something ;)... And useful! – Pinero

Answer 10

In CakePHP 4, with the Authentication plugin, you should be able to access the currently authenticated user in the Table model with:

namespace App\Model\Table;

use Cake\Http\Session;

class MyTable extends Table
{
    public function myFunction()
    {
        $session = new Session();
        $userId = $session->read('Auth.id');
    }
}

The Auth object in session should have other fields from your Users table as well, accessed via $session->read('Auth.your_field_name');.

Fantom