CakePHP call to member function on non-object

Question

I have the following Model and Controller files, and when i visit this url, http://....../pois/index i get this error:

Notice (8): Undefined property: PoisController::$Poi [APP/controllers/pois_controller.php, line 5]

Fatal error: Call to a member function find() on a non-object in /home/joecoyle/public_html/app/controllers/pois_controller.php on line 5

The Model is this, called poi.php:

<?php
class Poi extends AppModel {

}
?>

And the controller is this, named pois_controller.php

<?php
class PoisController extends AppController {

    function index(){
            $this->set('pois',$this->Poi->find('all'));
    }
}
?>

As i am new to CakePHP i am not sure what is causing this error, as everything seems to be named, right, and i am following the tutorial on the CakePHP site...

Thanks

Answer 1

You need add var $name = "Poi"; to initialize your class in the controller.

And I've tested that in PHP5.It seems that this is necessary.

Edit: controller file name:pois_controller.php,code:

 <?php
 class PoisController extends AppController
 {
       var $name = "Poi";
       function index()
       {
           debug($this->Poi);
           exit;
       }
 }
 ?>

database name:pois.Structure:id ,name

And using /pois/ will got:

Poi Object
(
[name] => Poi
[useDbConfig] => default
[useTable] => pois
[displayField] => name
[id] => 
[data] => Array
    (
    )

[table] => pois
[primaryKey] => id
[_schema] => Array
    (
        [id] => Array
            (
                [type] => integer
                [null] => 
                [default] => 
                [length] => 11
                [key] => primary
            )

        [name] => Array
            (
                [type] => integer
                [null] => 
                [default] => 
                [length] => 11
            )
   ...etc

Answer 2

If SpawnCxy's solution doesn't do the job (my own controllers set the name property to the pluralized version rather than the singular variation that the model takes), take a look at the inflection. "Poi" isn't a "common" word and a quick test tells me that CakePHP 1.2.6 doesn't handle this word the way you're thinking it will:

echo '<p>' . Inflector::singularize( 'Pois' ) . '</p>'; # prints "Pois"
echo '<p>' . Inflector::pluralize( 'Poi' ) . '</p>';    # prints "Pois"

The point of this, of course, is that Cake may not be making the correct association between the PoisController (plural) and the Poi model (singular) the way it does for most common English names.