Comments on: An idea for improving CakePHP’s ACL system

By: cakebaker

cakebaker — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:54:40 +0000

@sims, elantrix: Thanks for your comments!

By: elantrix

elantrix — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:09:15 +0000

Isn’t the #1 rule in frameworks is to use encapsulation, this is no different for the ACL, where did cake_ go?

Also, shouldn’t their be class(es) that provide the bare minimum to provide ACL features with an easy but highly configurable way to do more advanced functions.

By: sims

sims — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:25:32 +0000

I would like to say that ARO and ACO were easier and clearer for me as role is confused with RBAC which is supposedly different that ACL.

That’s just me though. I was happy to see ARO and ACO and actually made CakePHP’s docs and implementation clearer for me than Zend. The only thing that stopped me from using Cake was it’s PHP4 support. :/

By: cakebaker

cakebaker — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:34:39 +0000

@all: Thanks for your comments!

@Brendon: Yes, using the names “Resource” and “Role” would probably lead to naming clashes. However, they could be easily avoided by using prefixes: “AclResource” and “AclRole”, for example.

@Matthew: Yes, I fully agree with you. API usability is an important point to consider when designing an API, and in this regard you did a good job :)

@Jeremy: *g*

By: devsmt

devsmt — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:56:47 +0000

totally agree with you,
+1 for your proposal

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:40:23 +0000

My way for remembering is pretty stupid, but I think

ARO = Requestor
ACO = Crap (as in, crap they’re requesting)

not a great way :P but it works for me.

By: Matthew Weier O'Phinney

Matthew Weier O'Phinney — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:24:12 +0000

When coding Zend_Acl, we made the conscious decision not to use the terms ARO and ACO for the very reasons you describe: for most developers these are arcane terms that are not easily understood. “Role” and “Resource”, however, are simple to understand.

As far as I’m concerned, this is part of the job of a framework: translating design patterns, algorithms, and abstract concepts into easily recognizable terms. The API will be used by developers day in and day out, and should be easily grasped.

By: Brendon Kozlowski

Brendon Kozlowski — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:26:17 +0000

Unless Cake decided to follow in Zend’s footsteps with a similar naming convention, I don’t think simply using “Resource” or “Role” would be sufficient, as those could quite easily end up being used in other models. I’d imagine it’s much less frequent (especially due to Cake’s naming conventions) for there to be ACO, ARO, and ARO_ACO tables.

So…although I understand the reasoning for your thought, I think the small learning barrier is sufficient compared to the possibility for naming clashes.