Documentation

Contributing to the documentation is simple. The files are hosted onhttps://github.com/cakephp/docs. Feel free to fork the repo, add yourchanges/improvements/translations and give back by issuing a pull request.You can even edit the docs online with GitHub, without ever downloading thefiles – the “Improve this Doc” button on any given page will direct you toGitHub’s online editor for that page.

CakePHP documentation iscontinuously integrated,and deployed after each pull request is merged.

Translations

Email the docs team (docs at cakephp dot org) or hop on IRC(#cakephp on freenode) to discuss any translation efforts you wouldlike to participate in.

New Translation Language

We want to provide translations that are as complete as possible. However, theremay be times where a translation file is not up-to-date. You should alwaysconsider the English version as the authoritative version.

If your language is not in the current languages, please contact us throughGithub and we will consider creating a skeleton folder for it. The followingsections are the first one you should consider translating as thesefiles don’t change often:

• index.rst
• intro.rst
• quickstart.rst
• installation.rst
• /intro folder
• /tutorials-and-examples folder

Reminder for Docs Administrators

The structure of all language folders should mirror the English folderstructure. If the structure changes for the English version, we should applythose changes in the other languages.

For example, if a new English file is created in en/file.rst, we should:

• Add the file in all other languages : fr/file.rst, zh/file.rst, …

• Delete the content, but keeping the title, meta information andeventual toc-tree elements. The following note will be added while nobodyhas translated the file:

File Title
##########
 
.. note::
    The documentation is not currently supported in XX language for this
    page.
 
    Please feel free to send us a pull request on
    `Github <https://github.com/cakephp/docs>`_ or use the **Improve This Doc**
    button to directly propose your changes.
 
    You can refer to the English version in the select top menu to have
    information about this page's topic.
 
// If toc-tree elements are in the English version
.. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    one-toc-file
    other-toc-file
 
.. meta::
    :title lang=xx: File Title
    :keywords lang=xx: title, description,...

Translator tips

• Browse and edit in the language you want the content to betranslated to - otherwise you won’t see what has already beentranslated.
• Feel free to dive right in if your chosen language alreadyexists on the book.
• Use Informal Form).
• Translate both the content and the title at the same time.
• Do compare to the English content before submitting a correction(if you correct something, but don’t integrate an ‘upstream’ changeyour submission won’t be accepted).
• If you need to write an English term, wrap it in <em> tags.E.g. “asdf asdf Controller asdf” or “asdf asdf Kontroller(Controller) asfd” as appropriate.
• Do not submit partial translations.
• Do not edit a section with a pending change.
• Do not useHTML entitiesfor accented characters, the book uses UTF-8.
• Do not significantly change the markup (HTML) or add new content.
• If the original content is missing some info, submit an edit forthat first.

Documentation Formatting Guide

The new CakePHP documentation is written withReST formatted text. ReST(Re Structured Text) is a plain text markup syntax similar to markdown, ortextile. To maintain consistency it is recommended that when adding to theCakePHP documentation you follow the guidelines here on how to format andstructure your text.

Line Length

Lines of text should be wrapped at 80 columns. The only exception should belong URLs, and code snippets.

Headings and Sections

Section headers are created by underlining the title with punctuation charactersat least the length of the text.

• # Is used to denote page titles.
• = Is used for sections in a page.
• - Is used for subsections.
• ~ Is used for sub-subsections.
• ^ Is used for sub-sub-subsections.
  Headings should not be nested more than 5 levels deep. Headings should bepreceded and followed by a blank line.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs are simply blocks of text, with all the lines at the same level ofindentation. Paragraphs should be separated by one blank line.

Inline Markup

• One asterisk: text for emphasis (italics)We’ll use it for general highlighting/emphasis.
  • text.
• Two asterisks: text for strong emphasis (boldface)We’ll use it for working directories, bullet list subject, table names andexcluding the following word “table”.
  • /config/Migrations, articles, etc.
• Two backquotes: text for code samplesWe’ll use it for names of method options, names of table columns, objectnames, excluding the following word “object” and for method/functionnames – include “()”.
  • cascadeCallbacks, true, id,PagesController, config(), etc.
    If asterisks or backquotes appear in running text and could be confused withinline markup delimiters, they have to be escaped with a backslash.

Inline markup has a few restrictions:

• It may not be nested.
• Content may not start or end with whitespace: text is wrong.
• Content must be separated from surrounding text by non-word characters. Use abackslash escaped space to work around that: onelong\ bolded\ word.

Lists

List markup is very similar to markdown. Unordered lists are indicated bystarting a line with a single asterisk and a space. Numbered lists can becreated with either numerals, or # for auto numbering:

* This is a bullet
* So is this. But this line
  has two lines.
 
1. First line
2. Second line
 
#. Automatic numbering
#. Will save you some time.

Indented lists can also be created, by indenting sections and separating themwith an empty line:

* First line
* Second line
 
    * Going deeper
    * Whoah
 
* Back to the first level.

Definition lists can be created by doing the following:

term
    definition
CakePHP
    An MVC framework for PHP

Terms cannot be more than one line, but definitions can be multi-line and alllines should be indented consistently.

Links

There are several kinds of links, each with their own uses.

External Links

Links to external documents can be done with the following:

`External Link to php.net <http://php.net>`_

The resulting link would look like this: External Link to php.net

Links to Other Pages

• :doc:
• Other pages in the documentation can be linked to using the :doc: role.You can link to the specified document using either an absolute or relativepath reference. You should omit the .rst extension. For example, ifthe reference :doc:form appears in the document core-helpers/html,then the link references core-helpers/form. If the reference was:doc:/core-helpers, it would always reference /core-helpersregardless of where it was used.

Cross Referencing Links

• :ref:
• You can cross reference any arbitrary title in any document using the:ref: role. Link label targets must be unique across the entiredocumentation. When creating labels for class methods, it’s best to useclass-method as the format for your link label.

The most common use of labels is above a title. Example:

.. _label-name:
 
Section heading
---------------
 
More content here.

Elsewhere you could reference the above section using :ref:label-name.The link’s text would be the title that the link preceded. You can alsoprovide custom link text using :ref:Link text <label-name>.

Prevent Sphinx to Output Warnings

Sphinx will output warnings if a file is not referenced in a toc-tree. It’sa great way to ensure that all files have a link directed to them, butsometimes, you don’t need to insert a link for a file, eg. for ourepub-contents and pdf-contents files. In those cases, you can add:orphan: at the top of the file, to suppress warnings that the file is notin the toc-tree.

Describing Classes and their Contents

The CakePHP documentation uses the phpdomain to provide customdirectives for describing PHP objects and constructs. Using these directivesand roles is required to give proper indexing and cross referencing features.

Describing Classes and Constructs

Each directive populates the index, and or the namespace index.

• .. php:global:: name

• This directive declares a new PHP global variable.

• .. php:function:: name(signature)

• Defines a new global function outside of a class.

• .. php:const:: name

• This directive declares a new PHP constant, you can also use it nestedinside a class directive to create class constants.

• .. php:exception:: name

• This directive declares a new Exception in the current namespace. Thesignature can include constructor arguments.

• .. php:class:: name

• Describes a class. Methods, attributes, and constants belonging to the classshould be inside this directive’s body:

.. php:class:: MyClass
 
    Class description
 
   .. php:method:: method($argument)
 
   Method description

Attributes, methods and constants don’t need to be nested. They can also justfollow the class declaration:

.. php:class:: MyClass
 
    Text about the class
 
.. php:method:: methodName()
 
    Text about the method

See also

php:method, php:attr, php:const

• .. php:method:: name(signature)
• Describe a class method, its arguments, return value, and exceptions:

.. php:method:: instanceMethod($one, $two)
 
    :param string $one: The first parameter.
    :param string $two: The second parameter.
    :returns: An array of stuff.
    :throws: InvalidArgumentException
 
   This is an instance method.

• .. php:staticmethod:: ClassName::methodName(signature)

• Describe a static method, its arguments, return value and exceptions,see php:method for options.

• .. php:attr:: name

• Describe an property/attribute on a class.

Prevent Sphinx to Output Warnings

Sphinx will output warnings if a function is referenced in multiple files. It’sa great way to ensure that you did not add a function two times, butsometimes, you actually want to write a function in two or more files, eg.debug object is referenced in /development/debugging and in/core-libraries/global-constants-and-functions. In this case, you can add:noindex: under the function debug to suppress warnings. Keep onlyone reference without :no-index: to still have the function referenced:

.. php:function:: debug(mixed $var, boolean $showHtml = null, $showFrom = true)
    :noindex:

Cross Referencing

The following roles refer to PHP objects and links are generated if amatching directive is found:

• :php:func:

• Reference a PHP function.

• :php:global:

• Reference a global variable whose name has $ prefix.

• :php:const:

• Reference either a global constant, or a class constant. Class constantsshould be preceded by the owning class:

DateTime has an :php:const:`DateTime::ATOM` constant.

• :php:class:
• Reference a class by name:

:php:class:`ClassName`

• :php:meth:
• Reference a method of a class. This role supports both kinds of methods:

:php:meth:`DateTime::setDate`
:php:meth:`Classname::staticMethod`

• :php:attr:
• Reference a property on an object:

:php:attr:`ClassName::$propertyName`

• :php:exc:
• Reference an exception.

Source Code

Literal code blocks are created by ending a paragraph with ::. The literalblock must be indented, and like all paragraphs be separated by single lines:

This is a paragraph::
 
    while ($i--) {
        doStuff()
    }
 
This is regular text again.

Literal text is not modified or formatted, save that one level of indentationis removed.

Notes and Warnings

There are often times when you want to inform the reader of an important tip,special note or a potential hazard. Admonitions in sphinx are used for justthat. There are fives kinds of admonitions.

• .. tip:: Tips are used to document or re-iterate interesting or importantinformation. The content of the directive should be written in completesentences and include all appropriate punctuation.
• .. note:: Notes are used to document an especially important piece ofinformation. The content of the directive should be written in completesentences and include all appropriate punctuation.
• .. warning:: Warnings are used to document potential stumbling blocks, orinformation pertaining to security. The content of the directive should bewritten in complete sentences and include all appropriate punctuation.
• .. versionadded:: X.Y.Z “Version added” admonitions are used to display notesspecific to new features added at a specific version, X.Y.Z being the version onwhich the said feature was added.
• .. deprecated:: X.Y.Z As opposed to “version added” admonitions, “deprecated”admonition are used to notify of a deprecated feature, X.Y.Z being the version onwhich the said feature was deprecated.
  All admonitions are made the same:

.. note::
 
    Indented and preceded and followed by a blank line. Just like a
    paragraph.
 
This text is not part of the note.

Samples

Tip

This is a helpful tid-bit you probably forgot.

Note

You should pay attention here.

Warning

It could be dangerous.

New in version 2.6.3: This awesome feature was added on version 2.6.3

Deprecated since version 2.6.3: This old feature was deprecated on version 2.6.3