I'm in the process of implementing an ultra-light MVC framework in PHP. It seems to be a common opinion that the loading of data from a database, file etc. should be independent of the Model, and I agree. What I'm unsure of is the best way to link this "data layer" into MVC.

Datastore interacts with Model

//controller
public function update()
{

 $model = $this->loadModel('foo');
 $data = $this->loadDataStore('foo', $model);

 $data->loadBar(9); //loads data and populates Model
 $model->setBar('bar');
 $data->save(); //reads data from Model and saves

}

Controller mediates between Model and Datastore

Seems a bit verbose and requires the model to know that a datastore exists.

//controller
public function update()
{

 $model = $this->loadModel('foo');
 $data = $this->loadDataStore('foo');

 $model->setDataStore($data);

 $model->getDataStore->loadBar(9); //loads data and populates Model
 $model->setBar('bar');
 $model->getDataStore->save(); //reads data from Model and saves

}

Datastore extends Model

What happens if we want to save a Model extending a database datastore to a flatfile datastore?

//controller
public function update()
{

 $model = $this->loadHybrid('foo'); //get_class == Datastore_Database

 $model->loadBar(9); //loads data and populates
 $model->setBar('bar');
 $model->save(); //saves

}

Model extends datastore

This allows for Model portability, but it seems wrong to extend like this. Further, the datastore cannot make use of any of the Model's methods.

//controller extends model
public function update()
{

 $model = $this->loadHybrid('foo');  //get_class == Model

 $model->loadBar(9); //loads data and populates
 $model->setBar('bar');
 $model->save(); //saves

}

EDIT: Model communicates with DAO

//model
public function __construct($dao)
{
    $this->dao = $dao;
}

//model
public function setBar($bar)
{
    //a bunch of business logic goes here
    $this->dao->setBar($bar);
}

//controller
public function update()
{
    $model = $this->loadModel('foo');
    $model->setBar('baz');
    $model->save();
}

Any input on the "best" option - or alternative - is most appreciated.