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Models

In WordPress MVC (WPMVC), Models represent and manage your data objects. They handle interaction with the database — whether custom tables or WordPress core tables — providing a clean, object-oriented layer for fetching, saving, updating, and deleting records.

WPMVC is designed with WordPress in mind, so it offers specialized model types for the most common core data sources:

  • Posts (and postmeta)
  • Users (and usermeta)
  • Terms/Taxonomies (terms, termmeta)
  • Options
  • Comments (and commentmeta)

For custom data, you create models backed by your own tables. This eliminates raw $wpdb queries in most cases and promotes reusable, testable code.

Key Benefits of Models in WPMVC​

  • Automatic handling of WordPress core tables and meta data.
  • Consistent CRUD operations across data types.
  • Easy integration with controllers and views.
  • Ayuco scaffolding generates boilerplate quickly.
  • Extensible for validations, relationships, and custom logic.

Storage Path​

Views are stored under the project’s view directory. For example:

[project]/app/Models/

Creating Models with Ayuco​

Use Ayuco to generate the right model type based on your data source. Run these from your project root.

1. Post Models (for wp_posts + wp_postmeta)​

Ideal for custom post types (books, events, products) or extending built-in types (post, page).

  • For an existing post type:
php ayuco create model:Post

For a new custom post type (also registers CPT, model, controller):

php ayuco register type:book Book BookController

This creates app/Models/Book.php (extends a base post model) and wires it to the CPT.

2. User Models (for wp_users + wp_usermeta)​

php ayuco create usermodel:User

Generates a model for user data, useful for custom user profiles or roles.

3. Option Models (for wp_options table)​

Great for plugin settings stored as serialized arrays or single values.

php ayuco create optionmodel:MyApp my_app_settings

The second argument is the option name (e.g., 'my_app_settings').

4. Term Models (for wp_terms + wp_termmeta)​

For custom taxonomies (e.g., book publishers, genres).

php ayuco create termmodel:BookPublisher book_publisher

The second argument is the taxonomy slug.

5. Comment Models (for wp_comments + wp_commentmeta)​

php ayuco create commentmodel:BookNote

Useful for review systems or threaded notes.

Basic Model Structure​

Generated models typically look like this (example for a custom or post model):

app/Models/Book.php
<?php

namespace MyAwesomePlugin\Models;

use WPMVC\MVC\Models\PostModel as Model;
use WPMVC\MVC\Traits\FindTrait;

class Book extends Model
{
    use FindTrait;

    protected $type = 'book';
}

Working with Models in Code​

In controllers or elsewhere:

// Fetch a single book (post type)
$book = Book::find(123);  // By ID

// Create / save
$new_book = new Book();
$new_book->post_title = 'New Title';
$new_book->save();

// Update
$book->price = 29.99;
$book->save();

// Delete
$book->delete();

For option models:

$settings = MyApp::get();  // Loads from wp_options
$settings->api_key = 'new-key';
$settings->save();

Advanced Usage Tips​

  • Meta Handling: Core-backed models (posts, users, etc.) automatically sync meta fields as object properties.
  • Relationships: Define in the model (e.g., has_many, belongs_to) if supported — check your version or extend manually.
  • Callbacks/Validations: Add methods like before_save(), after_create() for logic.

Models are the data foundation of your WPMVC project — by leveraging WordPress core models out-of-the-box, you avoid reinventing the wheel and focus on custom business logic.