Year: 2011

CakePHP GraphViz Models

I have completely and totally rewritten my old script that generates a graph of CakePHP models and their relationships.  Instead of pasting the code in here, I pushed all of its development to GitHub where it now enjoys a new repository.  Please have a look, try it out, and let me know if it does or doesn’t work for you.

The major changes in this version are:

  • Rewritten as CakePHP Shell instead of being a standalone madness script.
  • Got rid of all dot markup. Utilized Image_GraphViz PEAR package instead.
  • Added support for old and new CakePHP versions (1.2, 1.3, and 2.0).
  • Added option for using only real models (via className property of the relationship) or sticking with the old behavior.
  • Added a bunch of options for tweaking GraphViz output.  And now it’s obvious where to edit them, in case you need more.
  • Improved the styling of the graph a bit – fonts and colors.
  • Improved documentation.

As a side effect improvement, now that it is a native CakePHP Shell, it’s trivial to add to your project build process.

Day in brief

Branches graph at GitHub

One of my favorite features of GitHub (and, probably, pretty much any other git client) is the graphical representation of branches.  It usually gives a crystal clear picture of how the source tree came about to be.  But I think today I actually managed to confuse the heck out of it.  Have a look at the screenshot below.

A couple of commits ago it was a master branch (black) and a stable branch (magenta).  Then I (if I remember correctly) created a test branch from the latest stable, pushed it, switched to stable branch, reverted one commit, and pushed it as well, then added a couple of commits to master and merged it into test.  Pushed and got the thing above.  Weird looking source tree mutant.

Anyway, I’m sure it will sort itself out some time later.

P.S.: Indeed, as expected, after just a few more merges, commits, and pushes the tree sorted itself out.  Lovely GitHub, very lovely!