php/www/protected/extensions/YiiMongoDbSuite/doc/input/en/advanced.soft-models.txt

Title: Soft Documents Models
Author: Dariusz Górecki <darek.krk@gmail.com>

---

Since the 1.3.4 version you can have models, that do not have fixed attribute list.

The only thing to get started is to define model that extends from `EMongoSoftDocument`

Example:

~~~
[php]
class MixedModel extends EMongoSoftDocument
{
	// You still can define a field(s), that always will be defined
	// like in normal EMongoDocument, but this is optional
	public $field;
	
	// As always define the getCollectionName() and model() methods !
	
	public function getCollectionName()
	{
		return 'mixed_collection';
	}
	
	public static function model($className=__CLASS__)
	{
		return parent::model($className);
	}
}
~~~

And thats it! Now you have model class that will handle of any field lists!

> [information]
> You still can use all features that are present in `EMongoDocument` because 'EMongoSoftDocument` extends from it.

## Usage: {#usage}

> [important]
> You need to init every soft attribute that you want to add to model, by using `$model->initSoftAttribute($attributeName)`.

~~~
[php]
$model = new MixedModel();

$model->initSoftAttribute('field1');
$model->initSoftAttributes(array('field2', 'field3'));

$model->field = 'regularField';
$model->field1 = 'value';	//	}
$model->field2 = 'value2';	//	} soft attributes, only in this model instance
$model->field3 = 'value3';	//	}

$model->save();

// Finder will init and populate all soft attributes with values found in particular document automatically
$newModel = MixedModel::model()->find();

echo $newModel->field3; // will print 'value3'
~~~