Build Properties Reference

    Here is a list of properties that can be set to affect how Propel builds database files. For a complete list, see the default.properties file that is bundled with your version of Propel generator (this will be in PEAR's data directory if you are using a PEAR-installed version of Propel).

    First, some conventions:

    • Text surrounded by a / is text that you would provide and is not defined in the language. (i.e. a table name is a good example of this.)
    • Items where you have an alternative choice have a | character between them (i.e. true|false)
    • Alternative choices may be delimited by { and } to indicate that this is the default option, if not overridden elsewhere.

    Where to Specify Properties

    In the Project build.properties File

    The most natural place to specify properties for a file are in the project's build.properties file. This file is expected to be found in the project directory.

    In a global build.properties file

    You can also create a global build.properties file in the same directory as Propel's default.properties file. For users who have installed Propel using PEAR, this will be in PEAR data directory structure.

    On the Command Line

    You can also specify properties on the command line when you invoke Propel. The command line accepts a camelCase version of the property name. So for instance, to set the value of the propel.some.other.property property using the command line, type:

    > propel-gen /path/to/project -Dpropel.someOtherProperty=value
    

    Tip
    There is no space between the -D and the property name.

    Property List

    General Build Settings

    # The name of your project.
    # This affects names of generated files, etc.
    propel.project = /Your-Project-Name/
    
    # The package to use for the generated classes.
    # This affects the value of the @package phpdoc tag, and it also affects
    # the directory that the classes are placed in. By default this will be
    # the same as the project. Note that the target package (and thus the target
    # directory for generated classes) can be overridden in each `<database>` and
    # `<table>` element in the XML schema.
    propel.targetPackage = {propel.project}|string
    
    # Whether to join schemas using the same database name into a single schema.
    # This allows splitting schemas in packages, and referencing tables in another
    # schema (but in the same database) in a foreign key. Beware that database
    # behaviors will also be joined when this parameter is set to true.
    propel.packageObjectModel = true|{false}
    
    # If you use namespaces in your schemas, this setting tells Propel to use the
    # namespace attribute for the package. Consequently, the namespace attribute
    # will also stipulate the subdirectory in which model classes get generated.
    propel.namespace.autoPackage = true|{false}
    
    # If your XML schema specifies SQL schemas for each table, you can copy the
    # value of the `schema` attribute to other attributes.
    # To copy the schema attribute to the package attribute, set this to true
    propel.schema.autoPackage = true|{false}
    # To copy the schema attribute to the namespace attribute, set this to true
    propel.schema.autoNamespace = true|{false}
    # To use the schema attribute as a prefix to all model phpNames, set this to true
    propel.schema.autoPrefix = true|{false}
    
    # Whether to validate the XML schema using the XSD file.
    # The default XSD file is located under `generator/resources/xsd/database.xsd`
    # and you can use a custom XSD file by changing the `propel.schema.xsd.file`
    # property.
    propel.schema.validate = {true}|false
    
    # Whether to transform the XML schema using the XSL file.
    # This was used in previous Propel versions to clean up the schema, but tended
    # to hide problems in the schema. It is disabled by default since Propel 1.5.
    # The default XSL file is located under `generator/resources/xsd/database.xsl`
    # and you can use a custom XSL file by changing the `propel.schema.xsl.file`
    # property.
    propel.schema.transform = true|{false}
    

    Database Settings

    # The Propel platform that will be used to determine how to build
    # the SQL DDL, the PHP classes, etc.
    propel.database = pgsql|mysql|sqlite|mssql|oracle
    
    # The database PDO connection settings at builtime.
    # This setting is required for the sql, reverse, and datasql tasks.
    # Note that some drivers (e.g. mysql, oracle) require that you specify the
    # username and password separately from the DSN, which is why they are
    # available as options.
    # Example PDO connection strings:
    #   mysql:host=localhost;port=3307;dbname=testdb
    #   sqlite:/opt/databases/mydb.sq3
    #   sqlite::memory:
    #   pgsql:host=localhost;port=5432;dbname=testdb;user=bruce;password=mypass
    #   oci:dbname=//localhost:1521/mydb
    propel.database.url = {empty}|string
    propel.database.user = {empty}|string
    propel.database.password = {empty}|string
    
    # The database PDO connection settings at builtime for reverse engineer
    # or data dump. The default is to use the database connection defined by the
    # `propel.database.url` property.
    propel.database.buildUrl = {propel.database.url}/string
    
    # The database PDO connection settings at builtime for creating a database.
    # The default is to use the database connection defined by the
    # `propel.database.url` property.
    # Propel is unable to create databases for some vendors because they do not
    # provide a SQL method for creation; therefore, it is usually recommended that
    # you actually create your database by hand.
    propel.database.createUrl = {propel.database.url}/string
    
    # Optional schema name, for RDBMS supporting them.
    # Propel will use this schema is provided.
    propel.database.schema = {empty}|string
    
    # The encoding to use for the database.
    # This can affect things such as transforming charsets when exporting to XML, etc.
    propel.database.encoding = {empty}|string
    
    # Add a prefix to all the table names in the database.
    # This does not affect the tables phpName.
    # This setting can be overridden on a per-database basis in the schema.
    propel.tablePrefix = {empty}|string
    

    Tip
    If you need more than one database connection at buildtime, the INI format is not enough. Therefore, you can add a buildtime-conf.xml file in the same directory as the build.properties file, and Propel will use the connections defined in this file instead of the ones defined by propel.database.XXX settings. The buildtime configuration file uses the same format as the runtime-conf.xml (see the runtime documentation reference for more details about this format).

    Reverse-Engineering Settings

    # Whether to specify PHP names that are the same as the column names.
    propel.samePhpName = true|{false}
    
    # Whether to add the vendor info. This is currently only used for MySQL, but
    # does provide additional information (such as full-text indexes) which can
    # affect the generation of the DDL from the schema.
    propel.addVendorInfo = true|{false}
    
    # Which Propel validators to add to the generated schema,
    # based on the database constraints.
    propel.addValidators = {none}|maxvalue|type|required|unique|all
    # You can cherry-pick allowed validators by using a comma-separated value, e.g
    propel.addValidators = maxvalue,type,required
    

    Customizing Generated Object Model

    # Whether to add generic getter/setter methods.
    # Generic accessors are `getByName()`, `getByPosition(), ` and `toArray()`.
    propel.addGenericAccessors = {true}|false
    # Generic mutators are `setByName()`, `setByPosition()`, and `fromArray()`.
    propel.addGenericMutators = {true}|false
    
    # Whether to add a timestamp to the phpdoc header of generated OM classes.
    # If you use a versioning system, don't set this to true, or the classes
    # will be committed too often with just a date change.
    propel.addTimeStamp = true|{false}
    
    # Whether to add `validate()` method to your classes.
    # Set to false if you don't use Propel validation.
    propel.addValidateMethod = {true}|false
    
    # Whether to add `require` statements on the generated stub classes.
    # Propel uses autoloading for OM classes, and doesn't insert require statements
    # by default. If you don't want to use autoloading, set this to true.
    propel.addIncludes = true|{false}
    
    # Whether to support pre- and post- hooks on `save()` and `delete()` methods.
    # Set to false if you never use these hooks for a small speed boost.
    propel.addHooks = {true}|false
    
    # The prefix to use for the base (super) classes that are generated.
    propel.basePrefix = {Base}|string
    
    # Some sort of "namespacing": All Propel classes with get the Prefix
    # "My_ORM_Prefix_" just like "My_ORM_Prefix_BookPeer".
    propel.classPrefix = {empty}|string
    
    # Identifier quoting may result in undesired behavior (especially in Postgres),
    # it can be disabled in DDL by setting this property to true in your build.properties file.
    propel.disableIdentifierQuoting = true|{false}
    
    # Whether the generated `doSelectJoin*()` methods use LEFT JOIN or INNER JOIN
    # (see ticket:491 and ticket:588 to understand more about why this might be
    # important).
    propel.useLeftJoinsInDoJoinMethods = {true}|false
    

    MySQL-specific Settings

    # Default table type.
    # You can override this setting if you wish to default to another engine for
    # all tables (for instance InnoDB, or HEAP). This setting can also be
    # overridden on a per-table basis using the `<vendor>` element in the schema
    # (see Schema AddingVendorInfo).
    propel.mysql.tableType = {MyISAM}|string
    
    # Keyword used to specify the table engine in the CREATE SQL statement.
    # Defaults to 'ENGINE', users of MYSQL < 5 should use 'TYPE' instead.
    propel.mysql.tableEngineKeyword = {ENGINE}|TYPE
    

    Date/Time Settings

    # Enable full use of the DateTime class.
    # Setting this to true means that getter methods for date/time/timestamp
    # columns will return a DateTime object when the default format is empty.
    propel.useDateTimeClass = {true}|false
    
    # Specify a custom DateTime subclass that you wish to have Propel use
    # for temporal values.
    propel.dateTimeClass = {DateTime}|string
    
    # These are the default formats that will be used when fetching values from
    # temporal columns in Propel. You can always specify these when calling the
    # methods directly, but for methods like getByName() it is nice to change
    # the defaults.
    # To have these methods return DateTime objects instead, you should set these
    # to empty values
    propel.defaultTimeStampFormat = {Y-m-d H:i:s}|string
    propel.defaultTimeFormat = { %X }|string
    propel.defaultDateFormat = { %x }|string
    

    Directories and Filenames

    # Directory where the project files (`build.properties`, `schema.xml`,
    # `runtime-conf.xml`, etc.) are located.
    # If you use the `propel-gen` script, this value will get overridden by
    # the path from which the script is called.
    propel.project.dir = {current_path}|string
    
    # The directory where Propel expects to find the XML configuration files.
    propel.conf.dir = ${propel.project.dir}
    # The XML configuration file names
    propel.runtime.conf.file = runtime-conf.xml
    propel.buildtime.conf.file = buildtime-conf.xml
    
    # The directory where Propel expects to find your `schema.xml` file.
    propel.schema.dir = ${propel.project.dir}
    # The schema base name
    propel.default.schema.basename = schema
    
    # The directory where Propel should output classes, sql, config, etc.
    propel.output.dir = ${propel.project.dir}/build
    
    # The directory where Propel should output generated object model classes.
    propel.php.dir = ${propel.output.dir}/classes
    
    # The directory where Propel should output the compiled runtime configuration.
    propel.phpconf.dir = ${propel.output.dir}/conf
    # The name of the compiled configuration and classmap files
    propel.runtime.phpconf.file = ${propel.project}-conf.php
    propel.runtime.phpconf-classmap.file = ${propel.project}-classmap.php
    
    # The directory where Propel should output the generated DDL (or data insert statements, etc.)
    propel.sql.dir = ${propel.output.dir}/sql
    

    Overriding Builder Classes

    # Object Model builders
    propel.builder.peer.class = builder.om.PHP5PeerBuilder
    propel.builder.object.class = builder.om.PHP5ObjectBuilder
    propel.builder.objectstub.class = builder.om.PHP5ExtensionObjectBuilder
    propel.builder.peerstub.class = builder.om.PHP5ExtensionPeerBuilder
    
    propel.builder.objectmultiextend.class = builder.om.PHP5MultiExtendObjectBuilder
    
    propel.builder.tablemap.class = builder.om.PHP5TableMapBuilder
    propel.builder.query.class = builder.om.QueryBuilder
    propel.builder.querystub.class = builder.om.ExtensionQueryBuilder
    propel.builder.queryinheritance.class = builder.om.QueryInheritanceBuilder
    propel.builder.queryinheritancestub.class = builder.om.ExtensionQueryInheritanceBuilder
    
    propel.builder.interface.class = builder.om.PHP5InterfaceBuilder
    
    propel.builder.node.class = builder.om.PHP5NodeBuilder
    propel.builder.nodepeer.class = builder.om.PHP5NodePeerBuilder
    propel.builder.nodestub.class = builder.om.PHP5ExtensionNodeBuilder
    propel.builder.nodepeerstub.class = builder.om.PHP5ExtensionNodePeerBuilder
    
    propel.builder.nestedset.class = builder.om.PHP5NestedSetBuilder
    propel.builder.nestedsetpeer.class = builder.om.PHP5NestedSetPeerBuilder
    
    # SQL builders
    propel.builder.datasql.class = builder.sql.${propel.database}.${propel.database}DataSQLBuilder
    
    # Platform classes
    propel.platform.class = platform.${propel.database}Platform
    
    # Pluralizer class (used to generate plural forms)
    propel.builder.pluralizer.class = builder.util.DefaultEnglishPluralizer
    # Use StandardEnglishPluralizer instead of DefaultEnglishPluralizer for better pluralization
    # (Handles uncountable and irregular nouns)
    

    As you can see, you can specify your own builder and platform classes if you want to extend & override behavior in the default classes

    Overriding / Adding Behaviors

    # Define the path to the class to be used for the `timestampable` behavior.
    # This behavior is bundled with Propel, but if you want to override it, you can
    # specify a different path. Note that your `timestampable` behavior must have a
    # different classname from the one bundled with Propel.
    propel.behavior.timestampable.class = propel.engine.behavior.MyTimestampableBehavior
    # Other behaviors use similar settings
    
    # If you want to add more behaviors, write their path following the same model:
    propel.behavior.my_behavior.class = my.custom.path.to.MyBehaviorClass
    
    # Behaviors are enabled on a per-table basis in the `schema.xml`. However, you
    # can add behaviors for all your schemas, provided that you define them in the
    # `propel.behavior.default` setting:
    propel.behavior.default = soft_delete,my_behavior
    

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