Professional CodeIgniter (Wrox Professional Guides)

339 Pages·2008·7.22 MB·English

by  Thomas Myer

Professional
CodeIgniter®
Thomas Myer
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Professional CodeIgniter®
Introduction ................................................................................................. xv
Chapter 1: Welcome to the MVC World .......................................................... 1
Chapter 2: Agile Methodologies and Approaches .......................................... 23
Chapter 3: A 10,000-Foot View of CodeIgniter .............................................. 45
Chapter 4: Creating the Main Web Site ........................................................ 77
Chapter 5: Building a Shopping Cart .......................................................... 107
Chapter 6: Creating a Dashboard ............................................................... 145
Chapter 7: Improving the Dashboard .......................................................... 189
Chapter 8: Last-Minute Upgrades ............................................................... 235
Chapter 9: Security and Performance ......................................................... 267
Chapter 10: Launch ................................................................................... 295
Index ........................................................................................................ 307
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Professional
CodeIgniter®
Thomas Myer
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Professional CodeIgniter®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-28245-8
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Myer, Thomas.
Professional CodeIgniter/Thomas Myer.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-28245-8 (pbk. : web)
1. Web site development. 2. CodeIgniter (Computer file) 3. Application software—Development.
4. Internet programming. I. Title.
TK5105.888.M95 2008
006.7'8—dc22
2008024002

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Wrox, the Wrox logo, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, and related
trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the
United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. CodeIgniter is a
registered trademark of EllisLab, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not
be available in electronic books.
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About the Author
Thomas Myer currently resides in Austin, Texas, where he runs Triple Dog Dare Media, a consulting
group that builds CodeIgniter applications, writes technical documentation and copy, and helps
companies and business owners fashion successful strategies for the online world. He is the author of
Lead Generation on the Web and No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP, as well as dozens of articles
on technology and business. If you have any feedback on this book or wish to discuss anything related to
web development, writing, or marketing, contact him via his web site at www.tripledogs.com.
To Hope, for loving me anyway
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Credits
Acquisitions Editor Production Manager
Jenny Watson Tim Tate
Development Editor Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Kelly Talbot Richard Swadley
Technical Editor Vice President and Executive Publisher
Ed Finkler Joseph B. Wikert
Production Editor Project Coordinator, Cover
Debra Banninger Lynsey Stanford
Kathleen Wisor
Proofreader
Copy Editor Nancy Carrasco
Cate Caffrey
Indexer
Editorial Manager Melanie Belkin
Mary Beth Wakefield
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Acknowledgments
My first tip o’ the hat goes to my editor, Kelly Talbot of Wiley, who received all my raving, meandering
prose and actually carved a book out of it. Although I kvetched a bit, he was a calm and steady hand
navigating this project to a successful completion. (Yes, it’s true, I did call him a slave driver in the heat
of the moment. Yes, he is one of the most organized editors I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.
Other authors, take note. The editor is always right.)
The second acknowledgment goes to Ed Finkler, who pored over every line of code and made incredibly
insightful remarks throughout. Despite the fact that he received the manuscript at quite an advanced
stage, he bravely ordered a whole series of changes in order to bring my game up. He followed this up
with a tenacious immunity to my whining and crying, and then nodded and patted my head when I
finally came around to his point of view. Any technical difficulties you may have with the code are
totally his fault. (Just kidding! Seriously, he’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know about software, and
without him, this book would have been quite different.)
Neil Salkind, my agent, is a pearl beyond price. He’s the kind of guy who will quietly listen to your
half-baked ideas and help you shape them into a real pitch that will actually get a publisher’s attention.
Without him, I’d just be another guy with dreams of authorship and nothing to his credit.
With any book, there are dozens of folks who toil behind the scenes, and it’s impossible to name them
all, but I’d like to try. Jenny Watson, who acquired the idea for Wiley, thanks so much for listening to my
pitch. Your guidance and feedback in the early stages were very appreciated.
Thanks, Debra and Cate, who took over during production edits — What can I say? Cate, I dub thee
“World’s Most Efficient Copyeditor” (although I’m sure you will make Copyeditor into two words, which
will be funny as all get out — sorry, a little editor humor there). Debra — thanks for taking my calls out
of the blue and for helping me put the last little touches on this puppy. Your solid Jersey wisdom on
“data are” versus “data is” was much appreciated and a source of much mirth.
Thank you, good folks at EllisLab, for creating CodeIgniter — you don’t know how much this
framework has changed my relationship with web development and with my clients. In particular,
thanks to Derek Allard for responding to my first tentative e-mails and giving me feedback. Thank
you, thank you, thank you!
To my clients, who accommodated me as I pursued this book, even though you had pressing deadlines
and requests of your own: You’re simply the best, and I’m damn lucky to be working with you.
Lastly, I extend my thanks to my divine spouse, Hope, who endured many weekends of solitude while
I wrote in my little study. And no, I can’t forget the contributions made by Marlowe (our little Yorkie)
and Kafka (our lovable mutt), who spent many a slow afternoon sleeping by my feet as I tapped away at
the keyboard.
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