Object Oriented Approach in Codeigniter Model

I had to make a similar decision and opted for this (trimmed for clarity)

class UserModel extends MY_Model {    public $UserID = 0;    public $CustomerID = null;    public $FirstName = '';    public $LastName = '';    public $EmailAddress = '';    public $Password = null;    public $UserGroupID = true;         function __construct()    {        parent::__construct();    }    private function get($id)    {        $row = $this->get($id);        if ($row !== null)        {            $this->dbResultToObject($row, $this);        }    }    // Return an array of User objects    public function get_list($deleted = false, $userIDToInclude = null)     {        $params = array(null, $deleted, $userIDToInclude);        $query = $this->db->call("spUserGet", $params);        $users = array();        foreach ($query->result() as $row)        {            $user = new UserModel();            $this->dbResultToObject($row, $user);            $users[] = $user;         }        return $users;            }    // Other Methods (Validate, Save etc)}

I use a mixture of public, protected and private properties so that the reflection code I've written to map the properties from the DB results and to the DB sproc calls then only includes the public properties and prevents too many parameters being sent. But that's getting off-topic so my controller then just looks like:

class Users extends MY_Controller {    public function __construct()    {        parent::__construct();        $this->load->model('UserModel', 'user');    }    ....}

Then a list can be retrieved with

$users = $this->user->get_list();

And a single record with

$user = $this->user->get($userID);

i'm a big fan of thinking about the design in terms of "roles" - not resources. so a "User" is going to be able to get their own Profile. but its only going to be an "Admin" who is able to get All User Profiles.

so that distinction and important separation between what a User can do - get one record - and what an Admin can do - get all records - starts by having separate controllers for each. The User Controller methods are based upon verifying a single user and granting them access to one record. The Admin Controller methods are based upon verifying an admin and granting them access to all records. And this makes sense even from a URL design standpoint - you want your admin area clearly separate.

This separation at the controller makes everything simpler and easier. When you are resource oriented you are constantly checking the credentials in every method and even in your views. Views should be as simple as possible and not be tasked with "is this person an admin"? When you are role oriented - you check the credentials in the controller - and then your methods, the models, and the views are appropriate for what that 'role' needs to accomplish.

Since you are think about OO programming, i think you need to think: what does this class represent?

1. each instance means one user?
2. each instance means one user-data-generator?

if it's the first case, it makes sense this class has attributes like $id, $name, $age .... and the following codes make sense

$user = new User();$ben = $user->get_user_from_db_with_id($id);

if it's the second case, it shouldn't have the attributes like $id, $name, $age in you sample.

and these codes

$all_user = $ben->get_all_users();

should be replaced with this

$all_user = $user->get_all_users();