CakePHP Membership Management

Question

I have a 'Membership' model that keeps track of a Member's membership. A membership can be updated by an admin (admin_add), or by the user (update). This code is working great, but I'd love some feedback on how it looks, sections that could be improved, etc.

Membership Model: 
class Membership extends AppModel {
 /**
 * Validation rules
 *
 * @var array
 */
 public $validate = array(
 'membership_type_id' => array(
 'notempty' => array(
 'rule' => 'notBlank',
 'message' => 'Membership Type Required',
 'allowEmpty' => false,
 'required' => true,
 ),
 'validateMembership' => array(
 'rule' => 'validateMembershipTypeModel',
 'message' => 'Invalid Membership Type',
 ),
 ),
 'updated_by_member_id' => array(
 'validateMember' => array(
 'rule' => 'validateMemberId',
 'message' => 'Invalid Updated By Member ID',
 'allowEmpty' => true,
 ),
 ),
 'payment_id' => array(
 'validatePayment' => array(
 'rule' => 'validatePayment',
 'message' => 'Invalid Payment ID',
 'allowEmpty' => true,
 ),
 ),
 'expires' => array(
 'rule' => array('date', 'ymd'),
 'message' => 'Please enter a valid expiration date',
 'allowEmpty' => false,
 'required' => true
 ), 
 'renewed' => array(
 'rule' => array('date', 'ymd'),
 'message' => 'Please enter a valid renewal date',
 'allowEmpty' => true,
 ), 
 );
 /*
 * Validation function to make sure the membership type id is valid
 *
 * @return bool
 */
 public function validateMembershipTypeModel($check) {
 $mTypeModel = ClassRegistry::init('MembershipType');
 if($mTypeModel->validateMembershipType($this->data['Membership']['membership_type_id'])) {
 return true;
 }
 return false;
 }
 /*
 * Validation function to make sure the "updated_by_member_id" is valid (a valid member)
 *
 * @return bool
 */
 public function validateMemberId($check) {
 if(! isset($this->data['Membership']['updated_by_member_id'])) {
 return false;
 }
 $mModel = ClassRegistry::init('Member');
 $mModel->contain();
 if($mModel->findById($this->data['Membership']['updated_by_member_id'])) {
 return true;
 }
 return false;
 }
 /*
 * Validation function to make sure the payment ID is valid
 *
 * UPDATE
 *
 * @return bool
 */
 public function validatePayment($check) {
 return true;
 }
 /**
 * belongsTo associations
 *
 * @var type array
 */
 public $belongsTo = array(
 'Member',
 'MembershipType'
 );
 /*
 * Validate Membership Data
 *
 * return array membership data
 */
 public function _validateMembershipData($data = array()) {
 // Validate 'corporate' flag
 if(isset($data['corporate']) && $data['corporate'] == 'on') {
 $data['corporate'] = 1;
 }
 // Validate 'international' flag
 if(isset($data['international']) && $data['international'] == 'on') {
 $data['international'] = 1;
 }
 return $data;
 }
 /*
 * Create new membership
 * Anytime a membership is updated, this function is called
 *
 *
 * return integer membershipID
 */
 public function createNewMembership($data) {
 if(empty($data)) {
 return false;
 }
 // Validate data
 $membership_data = $this->_validateMembershipData($data);
 $this->set($membership_data);
 if ($this->validates()) {
 // Save data 
 $this->create();
 if(! $this->save($membership_data)) {
 throw new NotFoundException('Could not find save membership');
 }
 // Assign the membership_id to the member
 if(! $this->assignMembershipToMember($this->id, $data['member_id'])) {
 throw new NotFoundException('Could not find save membership_id to member');
 }
 // Return Membership ID
 return $this->id;
 }
 return false;
 }
 /*
 * Assign a membership id to a member
 *
 * param membership_id
 * param member id
 * return bool on success
 */
 public function assignMembershipToMember($membership_id, $member_id) {
 $member = ClassRegistry::init('Member'); 
 $member->id = $member_id;
 if($member->saveField('membership_id', $membership_id)) {
 return true;
 }
 return false;
 }
}
/**
 * Memberships Controller
 *
 * @property Membership $Membership
 * @property PaginatorComponent $Paginator
 * @property SessionComponent $Session
 */
class MembershipsController extends AppController {
 public $uses = array('Member', 'Membership', 'MembershipType');
 /**
 * admin_update method - Update a member's Membership
 *
 * @throws NotFoundException
 * @param integer $id
 * @return void
 */
 public function admin_update($id = null) {
 // Validate the member id
 $this->Member->contain('Membership');
 $member = $this->Member->findById($id);
 if (! $this->Member->exists($id)) {
 throw new NotFoundException(__('Invalid member'));
 }
 if ($this->request->is(array('post', 'put'))) {
 // Fill in some of the membership data manually
 $this->request->data['Membership']['updated_by_member_id'] = $this->Auth->user('id');
 $this->request->data['Membership']['member_id'] = $id;
 $this->request->data['Membership']['renewed'] = date('Y-m-d');
 $this->request->data['Membership']['created_by'] = 'MANUAL';
 // Create the membership
 if ($this->Membership->createNewMembership($this->request->data['Membership'])) {
 $this->Session->setFlash(__('Membership Updated.'), 'success');
 return $this->redirect(array('admin' => false, 'controller' => 'members', 'action' => 'view', $id));
 } else {
 $this->Session->setFlash(__('There was an error updating the membership. Please try again.'), 'error');
 }
 } else {
 $this->request->data = $this->Membership->find('first', array('conditions' => array('id' => $member['Member']['membership_id']))); 
 }
 }
 /**
 * update method - Update a member's Membership
 *
 * @throws NotFoundException
 * @param integer $id
 * @return void
 */
 public function update($membership_type_id = null) {
 // Validate the membership type id
 $this->MembershipType->contain();
 $membership_type = $this->MembershipType->findById($membership_type_id);
 if(! $membership_type) {
 $this->Session->setFlash("Invalid Membership Type", 'error');
 return $this->redirect('/');
 }
 // Set the member ID to the person logged in
 $memberId = $this->Auth->user('id');
 // If they are submitting
 if ($this->request->is('post')) {
 // Assume true for testing
 $payment = true;
 $international = true;
 if($payment === true) {
 // Build the membership data
 $membership_data = array(
 'member_id' => $memberId,
 'membership_type_id' => $membership_type_id,
 'renewed' => date('Y-m-d'),
 'expires' => date('Y-m-d', strtotime("+1 year")),
 );
 // Create a new membership
 if($this->Membership->createNewMembership($membership_data)) {
 $this->Session->setFlash("Success! Your membership has been updated! Please make sure your address is correct below!", 'success');
 return $this->redirect(array('controller' => 'members', 'action' => 'view'));
 } else {
 $this->Session->setFlash(__('There was an error updating the membership. Please try again.'), 'error');
 }
 }
 }
 $this->set(compact('membership_type'));
 }
}

Answer 1

The only thing I would suggest you to do is to remove lines where you initialize models MembershipType and Member since you already have model associations set up correctly. For example, instead of:

$mTypeModel = ClassRegistry::init('MembershipType');
if ($mTypeModel->validateMembershipType($this->data['Membership']['membership_type_id'])) {
 return true;
}

you can do it like this:

if ($this->MembershipType->validateMembershipType($this->data['Membership']['membership_type_id'])) {
 return true;
}