Named-Parameters-vs-Query-Strings.md

Named Params vs Querystring

With the release of version 2.5.0 of the Search plugin the settings for the Prg component have been changed to use querystring by default instead of named.

To use query string parameters before 2.5.0 you would have had to use these configuration settings for the component:

public $components = array(
	'Search.Prg' => array(
		'commonProcess' => array('paramType' => 'querystring'),
		'presetForm' => array('paramType' => 'querystring')
	)
);

If you just upgraded to 2.5.0 or higher, and you're not already using query string parameters, you'll have to set the configuration of the Prg component in your app back to use named parameters. This is also valid if you want to favor named parameters over querystring.

public $components = array(
	'Search.Prg' => array(
		'commonProcess' => array('paramType' => 'named'),
		'presetForm' => array('paramType' => 'named')
	)
);

Why Query String instead of Named parameters?

Using the query string part of the URI is the correct way of passing parameters. Historically, named parameters were an alternative to passing arguments as part of the URL in CakePHP.

When you pass named parameters that contain special characters like / or &, they potentially break the URL. You would have to manually encode and decode these all the time. They also violate the HTTP specification, as they are specific to CakePHP, and are no longer supported in version 3.0 of the framework.