Extending ActiveRecord vs BaseActiverecord

[dynasource]

the extension/replacement of ActiveRecord through \Yii::$classMap['yii\db\ActiveRecord'] requires the replacement to have the same functions, as BaseActiveRecord does not have the same functions out of the box.

The combination of \Yii::$classMap and extension and reuse of 'yii\db\ActiveRecord' is unfortunately not possible.

It wouldnt be such a big problem for me, as I could adopt the functions of ActiveRecord in the replacement. The problem is however with updates of Yii. The has been an update to ActiveRecord, which made my replacement ActiveRecord invalid because of strict errors.

How should I approach $classmap & ActiveRecord? The approach is different than with the extension of BaseHelpers.

thanx

[samdark]

What are you trying to achieve with it?

[cebe]

Why don't you just extend from yii\db\ActiveRecord?

[dynasource]

Extending is not practical with repos:

• central repo with 20 modules with 50 models extending from ActiveRecord

what I want to achieve:

• speed
• flexiblitity

how? a centrally defined ActiveRecord:

• enables direct change of getters and setters
• enables direct Traits
• is much faster than behaviors

practical example:

• centrally define Relations and enable these by the magic functions inside
• speed improvements

[cebe]

I do not see why you can not just extend from yii\db\AR and use that extended class in all modules. Replacing the whole AR implementation does not make sense when you want to use most of it.

[dynasource]

I think you are missing a great chance here to enhance Yii2 on flexibility and consistency. Firstly, users cannot use Yii::$classMap for the most vital component of Yii2. This is something I think is very strange, support with the fact that ActiveRecord extension is default from Gii. Secondly, the current implementation of ActiveRecord extending from BaseActiveRecord does not match the style done with the Helpers. This is confusing and leading to problems like I am having.

[cebe]

You are confusing two things here. Helper classes can be replaced via classmap because they are static classes which can not be extended using inheritance. This is only valid use case for the classes in yii\helpers. All other classes can be extended normally using inheritance.

[dynasource]

Alright, thanks. I understand the reasons behind it better now. It was born out of a need. It does show a case of how ActiveRecord could easily be extended by DI. But Ill leave it as it is ;)

[dynasource]

@cebe, how do you look at the scenario I described?

• how to use a custom ActiveRecord with own logic?
• when you are using external packages with ActiveRecords that are extending from \yii\db\ActiveRecord (the Gii default)?

[cebe]

you need to be more specific about what kind of AR classes you get from external packages and what kind of logic you want to inject. Most of what I could think of should be possible using behaviors.

[dynasource]

the Gii generates a model extending from \yii\db\ActiveRecord automatically. This is what I see as something as default and to be expected from 3rd party packages.

About your behavior suggestion: I have worked with behaviors on ActiveRecord extensively and in my latest performance optimizations, I came to the conclusion that I should not work with magic functions in behaviors and put changes directly in ActiveRecord. The performance gain is too significant.

Secondly, there are too many ActiveRecord functions that are interesting to extend. Behaviors cannot always fullfill these needs or dont perform well enough. Examples:

• magic functions
• attributeLabels
• relations
• etc.

Thirdly, having you're own \yii\db\ActiveRecord enables you to benefit from the power of extension by traits.

Therefore I would suggest to create a blank ActiveRecord as a default class for extending, like simarly has been done for static helpers. The advantage is that you dont have to manually include all current variables & functions in ActiveRecord when you want to use

 \Yii::$classMap['yii\db\ActiveRecord']

IMHO, this would significally contribute to the flexibility of extending Yii2 on one of its main MVC parts which in its current state still lacks optimal extension. With Modules & Controllers you have more configuration options.