Extending the default model

[eluser]m4rw3r[/eluser]
Personally I don't extend or USE the default model (with IgnitedRecord).
Instead I add this:

Code:

class Amodel{
    function Amodel(){
        // just fetch the database instance
        $CI =& get_instance();
        $this->db =& $CI->db;
    }
    /**
     * To fool CI, letting it think this is a proper model.
     */
    function _assign_libraries(){}
}

The reason I do this is that I only use the db object, and I think it is better to restrict interaction with the controller object (and print_r becomes a mess).

This with extending CI's Model class, I think it can be done somewhat nicely like this:
CI_Model class in system/libraries/Model.php
MY_Model class in app/libraries/MY_Model.php
either conditional require of a class named Model which extends one of those above (depends on if MY_Model exists), or like in the db class, conditional eval of such a class.