Data is the cornerstone of an application and it is important to be able to do the most with it. Sometimes you will have inherited a database from a previous developer and it will have table names that are strange or simply not appropriate for Phalcon models. We will demonstrate how to use Phalcon models independently of the database schema so that you can integrate Phalcon into an existing application while staying true to the Phalcon way.
We will also be defining relations between models to allow a powerful application structure.
The Phalcon model system is built upon a common subset of all of the possible database features. In other words, to ensure a consistent experience across the supported databases, some unique features are not supported in the base Phalcon system. However, the Phalcon database layer is capable of being extended with custom functionality unique to the database of choice. It will be up to the developer to decide if a particular non-standard database feature...