Bootstrapping CakePHP
If you have any additional configuration needs, use CakePHP’s
bootstrap file, found in app/Config/bootstrap.php. This file is
executed just after CakePHP’s core bootstrapping.
This file is ideal for a number of common bootstrapping tasks:
- Defining convenience functions.
- Registering global constants.
- Defining additional model, view, and controller paths.
- Creating cache configurations.
- Configuring inflections.
- Loading configuration files.
Be careful to maintain the MVC software design pattern when you add
things to the bootstrap file: it might be tempting to place formatting
functions there in order to use them in your controllers.
Resist the urge. You’ll be glad you did later on down the line.
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/development/configuration.html
It seems wrong to put localized strings into configuration. Their place seems to be in Views part of MVC.
CakePHP’s Configure class can be used to store and retrieve
application or runtime specific values. Be careful, this class allows
you to store anything in it, then use it in any other part of your
code: a sure temptation to break the MVC pattern CakePHP was designed
for. The main goal of Configure class is to keep centralized variables
that can be shared between many objects. Remember to try to live by
“convention over configuration” and you won’t end up breaking the MVC
structure we’ve set in place.