Modelling Questions

[eluser]m4rw3r[/eluser]
Why not use this code in the constructor of your model

Code:

function __construct($id = false)
{
    $CI =& get_instance();
    $this->db =& $CI->db;

    if($id !== false)
    {
       // fetch data here and populate the object
    }
}

and then you treat it like any PHP object?

Example:

Code:

$person = new Person(2);
echo $person->name;

When CI instantiates the model, $id will be false and it won't load any data. But if you instantiate it yourself, the $id will be set.
A load() method is also a good solution (and you can add a method like in_db() which returns true if the result is in database, ie. the Primary Key is set).