Welcome to The Cookbook

New in CakePHP 1.2 is the ability to use named parameters. You can name parameters and send their values using the URL. A request for /posts/view/title:first+post/category:general would result in a call to the view() action of the PostsController. In that action, you’d find the values of the title and category parameters inside $this->passedArgs[‘title’] and $this->passedArgs[‘category’] respectively.

Some summarizing examples for default routes might prove helpful.

URL to controller action mapping using default routes:  
    
URL: /monkeys/jump
Mapping: MonkeysController->jump();
 
URL: /products
Mapping: ProductsController->index();
 
URL: /tasks/view/45
Mapping: TasksController->view(45);
 
URL: /donations/view/recent/2001
Mapping: DonationsController->view('recent', '2001');

URL: /contents/view/chapter:models/section:associations
Mapping: ContentsController->view();
$this->passedArgs['chapter'] = 'models';
$this->passedArgs['section'] = 'associations';