CodeIgniter4 caching with Redis in a sample CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) project

CodeIgniter 4’s caching with Redis in a sample CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) project. CodeIgniter 4 is a PHP framework that provides a set of tools to build web applications more efficiently. Redis is an in-memory data structure store that can be used as a caching layer to improve the performance of web applications.

In this example, We’ll walk through the process of setting up a basic CRUD project using CodeIgniter 4 and utilizing Redis for caching. I’ll assume you have some basic familiarity with PHP and web development concepts.

Step 1: Setup CodeIgniter 4 Project

1. Install Composer if you haven’t already.
2. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to create your project.
3. Run the following command to create a new CodeIgniter 4 project:

composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter ci4_redis_crud

Step 2: Configure Redis

1. Make sure you have a Redis server running locally or on a remote server.
2. In the app/Config/Cache.php file, set the 'redis' cache handler as your default cache handler:

public $handler = 'redis';

3. Configure the Redis connection settings in the app/Config/Redis.php file:

public $default = [
    'hostname' => '127.0.0.1', // Redis server IP or hostname
    'port' => 6379,            // Redis server port
    'password' => '',          // Redis server password
    'database' => 0,           // Redis database number
];

Step 3: Create a Sample CRUD Controller

1. Create a new controller by running the following command in your project’s root directory:

php spark make:controller Users

2. In the newly created Users.php controller file (app/Controllers/Users.php), add methods for CRUD operations:

namespace App\Controllers;

use App\Models\UserModel;
use CodeIgniter\Controller;

class Users extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        // Load the Redis cache
        $cache = \Config\Services::cache('redis');

        // Try to get the users from cache
        $users = $cache->get('cached_users');

        if ($users === null) {
            // If not cached, fetch users from the database
            $userModel = new UserModel();
            $users = $userModel->findAll();

            // Cache the users for 5 minutes
            $cache->save('cached_users', $users, 300);
        }

        return view('users/index', ['users' => $users]);
    }

    // Add other CRUD methods (create, edit, update, delete) here...
}

Step 4: Create the User Model

1. Create a model by running the following command:

php spark make:model UserModel

2. In the UserModel.php file (app/Models/UserModel.php), define your database table and other methods for CRUD operations.

Step 5: Create Views

Create the necessary views (app/Views/users/index.php, app/Views/users/create.php, app/Views/users/edit.php, app/Views/users/view.php) for your CRUD operations.

Step 6: Routing

Define routes in app/Config/Routes.php to map the CRUD actions to your controller methods.

Step 7: Run the Project

Run the development server using:

php spark serve

Access your CRUD application in a web browser and navigate to the Users section to see the cached user data being used to enhance the performance of your application.

Please note that this is a basic example and does not cover all aspects of a production-ready application, such as input validation, security considerations, and error handling. Always follow best practices when building real-world applications.