Including files with App::import()
static App::import(mixed $type = null, string $name = null, mixed $parent = true, array $search
= array(), string $file = null, boolean $return = false)
Return type boolean
At first glance App::import seems complex, however in most use cases only 2 arguments are
required.
Note: This method is equivalent to require‘ing the file. It is important to realize that the class
subsequently needs to be initialized.
// The same as require(’Controller/UsersController.php’);
App::import(’Controller’, ’Users’);
// We need to load the class
$Users = new UsersController();
// If we want the model associations, components, etc to be loaded
$Users->constructClasses();
All classes that were loaded in the past using App::import(‘Core’, $class) will need to be loaded
using App::uses() referring to the correct package. This change has provided large performance
gains to the framework. Changed in version 2.0.
•The method no longer looks for classes recursively, it strictly uses the values for the paths defined
in App::build()
•It will not be able to load App::import(’Component’, ’Component’) use
App::uses(’Component’, ’Controller’);.
•Using App::import(’Lib’, ’CoreClass’); to load core classes is no longer possible.
•Importing a non-existent file, supplying a wrong type or package name, or null values for $name
and $file parameters will result in a false return value.
•App::import(’Core’, ’CoreClass’) is no longer supported, use App::uses() instead
and let the class autoloading do the rest.
•Loading Vendor files does not look recursively in the vendors folder, it will also not convert the
file to underscored anymore as it did in the past.
Overriding classes in CakePHP
You can override almost every class in the framework, exceptions are the App and Configure classes.
Whenever you like to perform such overriding, just add your class to your app/Lib folder mimicking the
internal structure of the framework. Some examples to follow
• To override the Dispatcher class, create app/Lib/Routing/Dispatcher.php
• To override the CakeRoute class, create app/Lib/Routing/Route/CakeRoute.php
