Models

In Yii1, base models and form models were two separated classes (CModel and CFormModel). In Yii2, these two classes have been consolidated into a single class, yii/base/Model. This class is used throughout Yii2 for data representation and should be our go-to class when representing data we can't represent with yii/db/ActiveRecord.

Tip

Since yii/db/ActiveRecord extends yii/base/Model, we're already familiar with the majority of methods and properties that yii/base/Model offers, such as getAttributes(), rules(), attributeLabels(), and getErrors(). Refer to the Yii2 API documentation for a complete list of all the methods supported by yii/base/Model at http://www.yiiframework.com/doc-2.0/yii-base-model.html.

Model attributes

In yii/db/ActiveRecord, data attributes and attribute names are pulled directly from our database column names. In yii/base/Model, data attributes and attribute names are defined as public properties within our model class. For instance, if we want to create...