I cant understand how to setup CakePHP. I am using XAMPP on windows. I configured the config files to setup database and when I run "http://localhost/cakephp/"., I get this - But If I try any code in the webroot/index.php like I get an error that class AppModel not found. How to use it??
You don't add code to index.php - that is never touched once you have achieved the initial setup. The system looks for the files that are named according to the object they belong to. Therefore you should have a folder where the cakephp files are stored and in the models folder you put user.php I'm not familiar with Windows hosting but the general rule of cakePHP is that the app files are below the root so that they can't be called directly.
Thats too simple you must have a look here http://www.switchonthecode.com/tutorials/cakephp-setup-and-configuration in apache But in windows you may get that error in xampp due to .htaccess conflict at times in root But using wamp can be solved Have a look here http://planetcakephp.org/aggregator/items/1610-how-to-setup-cakephp
Maybe but weren't you alarmed when he said No "code" should be put in index.php. It shows a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of MVC and Cake in particular.
Oops! So only provided tutorial link for setup in WAMP If you need on XAMPP PT have a Good article on that http://practicaltechniques.com/2008/04/28/setting-up-cakephp-with-xampp/