Use Environment class with CakePHP database.php

bootstrap.php

config('environments');

database.php

<?php
class DATABASE_CONFIG {

  // This is the default, generate by bake

  var $default = array(
    'driver' => 'mysql',
    'persistent' => false,
    'host' => 'localhost',
    'login' => 'root',
    'password' => '',
    'database' => 'test',
    'encoding' => 'utf8'
  );

  // Add properties for each of our environments

  var $development = array(
    'login' => 'dev',
    'password' => 'dev-pw',
    'database' => 'myapp_development',
  );

  var $staging = array(
    'login' => 'staging',
    'password' => 'staging-pw',
    'database' => 'myapp_staging',
  );

  var $production = array(
    'login' => 'live',
    'password' => 'live-pw',
    'database' => 'myapp_live',
  );

  // Then add a __construct to this class to run some code when cake loads it

  function __construct() {

    // once Environment has decided where we at, it will write the name into Configure.
    if ($environment = Configure::read('Environment.name')) {

      // now i am gonna test if theres a property of the same name
      if (isset($this->{$environment})) {

        // if so, i then merge any options into $default.
        $this->default = array_merge($this->default, $this->{$environment});
      }
    }
    
    // if everything above went smooth, $this->default now has the correct login info.
    // Since we are using $default i dont need to change anything else in my app.
  }
}
?>

environments.php

<?php
// import the lib
App::import('Vendor', 'Environment');

// config
Environment::configure('development',
   array('server' => 'localhost'),     // if SERVER_NAME == 'localhost'
   array('debug' => 2)
);
Environment::configure('staging',
  array('server' => 'dev.myapp.com'),
  array('debug' => 1)
);
Environment::configure('production',
  array('server' => 'myapp.com'),
  array('debug' => 0)
);

// run
Environment::start();
?>