CodeIgniter Zen Cache Library

A caching library to cache attributes or function calls to libraries, models and (helper) functions. This library was built to be as user-friendly as possible. You can add zen caching to existing code by adding a zen chain-link before your actual library or model: $this->blog_model becomes $this->zen->blog_model.

Keep in mind, when using the file adapter for caching: writing cache files on the system takes time too. Only apply caching on those really big methods that slow your website down. Using memcached on the other hand may improve every call since those results remain in the system's memory.

Installation

Place the files from the repository in their respective folders (or use spark).

Edit the configuration file:

/*
| -------------------------------------------------------------------
| Zen configuration
| -------------------------------------------------------------------
| This file will contain the settings for the Zen library.
|
| 'adapter' = the cache adapter you want the system to use (apc, file, memcached, dummy)
| 'expires' = the default number of seconds an item should remain in cache
| 'folder   = when using the file adapter you can choose to store the items in a sub
|             directory of CodeIgniter's cache folder
| 'extension' = the extension to add to all cache files
*/

$config['adapter']   = 'file';
$config['expires']   = 60;
$config['folder']    = 'zen';
$config['extension'] = '.zen';

The Zen library uses CodeIgniter's caching adapters internally, so you are able to set adapter specific using that adapter's configuration file. (http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/caching.html)

When using the file cache adapter, the Zen library will use the folder config parameter as a subdirectory for CodeIgniter's current cache directory. It will also add a .zen file extension.

Example

// uncached
$this->blog_model->get_all();

// cached
$this->zen->blog_model->get_all();

// cached with custom expire time in seconds
$this->zen->expires(120)->blog_model->get_all();

// cache a regular function
$replaced = $this->zen->preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $subject);

// remove all cache related to blog_model
$this->zen->clean('blog_model');

// remove all cache
$this->zen->clean();

// using secret call() method just like call_user_func()
$this->zen->call(array($this->my_library, 'long_method'), $args = array());

NOTE: the group clean functions are only available when using the file adapter!