CakePHP: Is it really worth it ??

[CFROG]

Does anyone feel that Cake is worth the trouble it takes getting used to it? I don't mind putting the time into learning it as long as it pays off in the end.

They claim you are up and running faster and spend less time re-inventing the wheel and while it really has simplified some things greatly it seems as though I still spend a majority of my time "re-inventing the wheel." I'm sure I'm running into some issues because I'm simply unaware that certain functions exist within cake but the documentation really isn't "all that" and I've spent gobs of time pouring through the API, countless Google searches, user forums, groups ... (you get the idea) and in most cases I really don't feel like I came out much further ahead of where I started. I've figured out more through trial and error then I have through any sort of documentation.

Most of my sites are heavy on Ajax and since their Ajax helpers are all based on Prototype and Scriptaculous I thought for sure this would be a good thing. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it now that I had the chance to toy with it. It normally takes me no time at all to generate a form with dynamic form fields based on user input ... but I've been dorking around with it in Cake for two days now and I'm finding it more difficult in some ways and almost impossible in others. Perhaps it's force of habit but I've been getting so frustrated that I keep finding myself straying from OOP and Cake conventions and coding things "the long way" which is really defeating the purpose.

While there may be much more overhead involved with working without a framework, is it really all that bad??

I would really like everyone else's input on how they feel about Cake or frameworks in general.

Also, I've been spending time learning Flex and I'm really digging it. Has anyone had the chance to play around with it? It's pretty great if you ask me ... it has tons of potential and will no doubt be the next "Ajax".

[diafol]

Hi CF. I can't get to grips with them myself. They promise simplicity, but I find them beyond comprehension. The documentation is usually shockingly poor and the ubiquitous YT videos, to show how simple it all is, are laughable. The only type of framework I use are js (jQuery and prototype), because I don't really understand it that well and 'templators' (Rain TPL and Smarty). To be honest all my useful functions are placed in a 'functions project' so I just dip into them when I need. Not too much need to re-invent the wheel. That's the theory, in practice, it's a little different.

[CFROG]

I'm still goofing with it and while it seems okay I'm not so sure I'm it's biggest fan. For the advantages it offers there are also some major disadvantages in my opinion. It's kind of like one step forward, two steps back.

[johnbo100]

Ive been trying to get Cake php 1.3 and 1.2 to work for the last week thinking that it will save a lot of time. It's been one problem after the other. Ive read a few manuals, watched a few video tutorials and googled help to try and get it running smoothly.
After all the effort and very little success I can't honestly say it has saved any time and I have only been led to think the beginning has been a sign of things to come.
Personally I like to code line by line so that I know what is going on and maybe thats a good thing because you know where the problem is likely to be.

When things go wrong and your client needs their system up an running quickly, it's very worrying when you are relying on someone elses framework that is over complicated and may take hours or even days to solve!!!!!