This is not something anyone can definitively answer. I'll just throw in my 0.02€ for whatever it is worth.
I have been the most happy with the results when I have gone the other way. :) Starting with the vision and use cases. Creating the best gui I can to to those things (not worrying about php and databases). Then figuring out what kind of Models and tables I need to support the features I have come up with in the gui. After that the "glue" (controllers) become quite natural. I really dislike my work when I have "cheated" and built views after the models... The gui never turns out nice... feels like scaffolding :) I would recommend you start on paper but quickly move on to creating interactive pieces of your gui. Real html with working javascript and dummy data. What does a persons "home screen" look like? What does he/ she do there? What is the best way to indicate a new personal message? When you feel you have the answers to these kinds of questions you will inevitably have ideas and requirements for the data layer. This may sound contradictory to the above but for some light reading i found 37signals book quite inspirational... even though I don't really like their interfaces much. The book is really up in the conceptual clouds but is does try to make you focus and think of what is really important to the end-result. /Martin On Oct 24, 7:22 am, Bernardo Vieira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Matthieu wrote: > > Hi everybody, > > > I'm planning to make a web application, it's a kind of a social > > network. Would you know some guidelines to make this app from A to Z. > > I want to build a space rocket, it's kind of a projectile... Just > kidding. My point is you'll won't get much help by tossing a vague > project idea on the list and expecting a how-to guide to just come out > of the blue.> Shall I start with the design, the data base or the php > classes? Would > > you know a well-known model about it because I don't know where to > > start actually? > > I take it you're not very familiar with CakePHP, I suggest you read > throughhttp://book.cakephp.org/and try the tutorials in the example > application section. That should get you up and running with CakePHP. > Once you're ready to go on to your project, the natural way to get > things done is: > 1) Gather requirements / broad use cases. You'll end up with an idea of > which pages you'll have and what they will do as well as an idea of what > data you'll be handling. Don't try to be too thorough at this point or > you'll be stuck here forever. > 2) Sketch your database, use a graphical tool for this such as MySql > Workbench. Pay attention to CakePHP conventions! > 3) Pick a use case, bake the models you think you'll need for this use case > 4) Scaffold your controller / views > 5) Validate your model (i.e. make sure you're gathering all the required > data for this particular use case and that the data is well related), > repeat 2-4 until you're satisfied. > 6) bake views and controllers, customize tem as necessary to fulfill > this particular use case, don't be too rigorous on layout/design at this > point, just make sure your views are well structured and functional > 7) reevaluate your use cases, you'll probably find that you missed > something, go back to 1 refine your use cases > 8) repeat 1-7 until you run out of use cases > finally, once you're requirements are met, brush up your design and > deploy your application. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
