How to get Entity datamap from Model

Since Model is responsible for interacting with the database, when writing custom queries on my model, I need to get the actual field used in my table, as set in Entity datamaps, to be sure that I am not breaking my code.

How do I get the mapping for a property from a model? I see that Entity#mapProperty is protected.

I am new to CodeIgniter so I am not sure if my reasoning is correct, feel free to correct me.

If you see the source code of the entity, you know the mapping.
And if you write a wrong column name, a database error will surely occur.
Why do you need to get the column name from the entity?

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From docs:

By adding our new database name to the $datamap array, we can tell the class what class property the database column should be accessible through. The key of the array is class property to map it to, where the value in the array is the name of the column in the database.

Since the model is responsible for interacting with the database, it should have knowledge of the data mapping set in the entity. So when I assign a mapping, the program knows which column to use instead of breaking the model. This way you only have 1 source of truth regarding the state of the database.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the purpose of the entity and the model, or maybe I am missing something.

The CodeIgniter’s Model provides convenience features and additional functionality that people commonly use to make working with a single table in your database more convenient.
https://codeigniter4.github.io/CodeIgnit...tml#models

At its core, an Entity class is simply a class that represents a single database row. It has class properties to represent the database columns, and provides any additional methods to implement the business logic for that row.
https://codeigniter4.github.io/CodeIgnit...tity-usage

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Since the model is responsible for interacting with the database, it should have knowledge of the data mapping set in the entity. So when I assign a mapping, the program knows which column to use instead of breaking the model. This way you only have 1 source of truth regarding the state of the database.

There is nothing wrong with that idea.
But there is no method to get the mapping from Entity.
So you need to customize Entity.

Personally, I don't think Entity should have knowledge of the database.

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