/dev/orders/create

<?php
//bootstrap.php code:
Configure::write('Routing.prefixes', array('admin', 'dev'));

// AppController::beforeFilter() code:
if (preg_match('/^dev_(.*)$/', $this->params['action'], $subs)){
   $new_action = $subs[1];
   if (method_exists($this, $new_action)){
          $this->params['action'] = $new_action;
    }
}
?>

#webroot/.htaccess
RewriteRule ^dev(.*)$ index.php?dev=true&%{QUERY_STRING}
#... rewrite conds ...
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [QSA,L] #original Cake rewrite

// need to override invokeAction
public function invokeAction(CakeRequest $request) {
  if ($request->prefix == 'dev') {
    if (!method_exists($request->action)) {
      $request->action = str_replace($request->prefix.'_', '', $request->action);
      $request->prefix = null;
    }
  }
  return parent::invokeAction($request);
}

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^dev/(.*)$ $1 //my hack
    //      /dev/orders/create => /orders/create
    //      /dev/css/main.css => /css/main.css
    // This only changes the url for the next rule
    // Cake would have still parsed /dev/orders/create
    // but this is needed for the sake of static files in app/webroot
//cake native rewrite
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [QSA,L]

$url = (!empty($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'])) ? $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] : '';
    //$url is still /dev/orders/create, despite the rewrites

Configure::write('App.dev', false);
//we use this to check if we're in "dev" mode
//anywhere in the app, just call:
    //  if ( Configure::read('App.dev') ) ...

//check if URL starts with /dev
if (preg_match('|^/dev|', $url)){
    /* the most important thing is to trick CakePHP
    into thinking it's on a /dev/ subfolder on the server
    this preserves all the routing as it
            should be, not making it prefixed route */
    Configure::write('App.base', '/dev');
    Configure::write('App.dev', true);
    //this changes /dev/orders/create to /orders/create
            //for Cake's Route parser
    $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] = preg_replace('|/dev|', '', $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
}
?>

<?php
//file: AppController.php
public function invokeAction(CakeRequest $request) {

    if (Configure::read('App.dev')) {
        $new_action = 'dev'.$request->params['action'];
        if (method_exists($this, $new_action)){
            $request->params['action'] = $new_action;
        }
    }


    return parent::invokeAction($request);
}
?>

<?php
//OrdersController.php

//gets called on /admin/orders/view
public function admin_view(){}

//gets called on /dev/admin/orders/view
public function devadmin_view(){
    //views have to be defined manually for DEV actions
    $this->render('devadmin_view');
}

//gets called on /admin/orders/add
//            AND /dev/admin/orders/add
public function admin_add() {}

?>