Migrating from CakePHP 2 to CakePHP 4

Aug 3, 2023

With the ever-increasing evolution of web development, choosing a powerful and efficient PHP framework is critical. The CakePHP framework has continually updated its technology stack to meet modern development demands, pushing itself from CakePHP 2 to CakePHP 4.

What is CakePHP used for? It builds web applications efficiently, following the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. It also offers built-in tools for input validation, form tampering protection, CSRF protection, and SQL injection prevention.

This article discusses the key benefits of migrating from CakePHP 2 to CakePHP 4.

Why is it worth migrating?

There are many examples of why it’s worth migrating from CakePHP 2 to CakePHP 4 instead of staying on the old version. Therefore, we reveal them here:

1. End of Support for CakePHP 2: CakePHP 2 has reached its end-of-life phase, meaning it is no longer being actively maintained or receiving security patches. Migrating to CakePHP 4 is necessary to ensure your application remains secure and robust against the latest threats. 

2. Performance Improvements: CakePHP 4 comes with performance enhancements that enable applications to run more efficiently, which directly improves the user experience.

3. Modern Technologies: CakePHP 4 supports PHP 8+, bringing the latest PHP features, improved performance, and better security to your application.

Key advantages of migrating from CakePHP 2 to 4

Transitioning from CakePHP 2 to CakePHP 4 is a crucial step for developers aiming for modern web application capabilities. This migration equips developers with a refined API and compatibility with recent PHP versions. By taking this leap, developers can ensure they’re leveraging the best of the framework’s features.

1. Improved ORM: CakePHP 4 has an improved Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) layer that simplifies data manipulation. This feature offers better and cleaner code, easier data handling, and increased productivity.

2. Middleware Stack: In CakePHP 4, the introduction of a Middleware Stack allows you to manipulate the request and response objects in your application. It simplifies the creation of more reusable and efficient code.

3. Better Plugin Support: The plugin support in CakePHP 4 is improved, allowing developers to divide their applications into smaller, more manageable units, facilitating code reuse and maintainability

4. PSR-15 Compliance: CakePHP 4 complies with PSR-15 standards, making it interoperable with other frameworks and libraries that adhere to the same standard.

What has changed in CakePHP 4?

How to upgrade CakePHP version 2 to 4? You must remember to replace all outdated functions and also upgrade to a higher version of PHP. What is new in CakePHP4? Let’s see:

1. Deprecation and Removal of Certain Features: Some features of CakePHP 2 are deprecated and removed in CakePHP 4. This includes the `App::uses()` method, which was replaced by Composer’s autoloader. 

2. Enhanced Convention Over Configuration: CakePHP 4 extends the “convention over configuration” principle, reducing the time developers spend setting up their environment and increasing the time spent on actual development.

3. Introduction of ServerRequest and ServerResponse: CakePHP 4 introduces new ServerRequest and ServerResponse objects, replacing the old $this->request and $this->response objects, to align more closely with the PSR-7 HTTP message interfaces.

4. Type Hinting and Strict Typing: CakePHP 4 fully leverages PHP 7.2+’s type hinting and strict typing, making code easier to read, debug, and test. You may ask: should I use PHP 7.4 or 8? Everything depends on you, but PHP 8 can handle more requests.

5. PHPUnit 8.5+ Support: CakePHP 4 supports PHPUnit 8.5 and above, which allows developers to take advantage of the newest testing features and improvements.

Choose us for migrating from CakePHP 2 to 4

Migration to CakePHP 4 may seem like a daunting task, but the benefits it brings to the table make it a move worth considering. Navigating the intricacies of CakePHP can sometimes be daunting and time-consuming. If you’ve ever thought, “I wish there was an expert who could handle this for me,” then you’ve come to the right place.

Then we’re here to simplify your journey. We pride ourselves on our deep understanding of CakePHP, and our commitment to providing top-notch service to our clients.

Do you need help with migration from CakePHP 2 to 4?