Is this a good way to structure model on an MVC application?

Question

Hi,

This is more a "Am i doing it right?" question.

I am using a MVC framework ( Zend Framework ) and was wondering if this is the best way to structure a model.

In this case i have an user groups model and, after coding for sometime, i realized that on my controllers i was repeating some stuff like a query to return visible groups.

$model->fetchAll( array(
     'enabled = 1',
     'visible = 1'
) );

In order to reduce code repetition, i created a method on this model that returns the query for visible groups.

Based on this same situation, i also created many other methods like hidden groups, disabled groups etc.

Is this the best way to avoid code duplication? My concern is that if i kept inserting that code on controllers i would have a big headache if the business rule for visible group changes in the future.

At the same time i am also concerned that, if i follow this new approach, i will end up with a bloated model full of methods to return queries.

How do you deal with this kind of situation?

Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

if u are writing queries to fetch data in controllers where is Model layer of mvc then?. i would write a seperate layer that would get, add, edit etc. my domain models. u can have a look at repository pattern in php here.