CakePHP Pagination. Keeping Model Fat

Question

I currently have this in my Model (Referer Model):

public function getReferers($type = 'today') {
    if ($type == 'this_month') {
        return $this->_getThisMonthsReferers();
    } elseif ($type == 'today') {
        return $this->_getTodaysPageReferers();
    }      
}

private function _getThisMonthsReferers() {
    $today = new DateTime();

    return $this->Visitor->find('all', array(
        'fields' => array(
            'Referer.url',
            'COUNT(UserRequest.visitor_id) as request_count',
            'COUNT(DISTINCT(Visitor.id)) as visitor_count',
            'COUNT(UserRequest.visitor_id) / COUNT(DISTINCT(Visitor.id)) as pages_per_visit',
            'COUNT(DISTINCT(Visitor.id)) / COUNT(UserRequest.visitor_id) * 100 as percent_new_visit'
        ),
        'joins' => array(
            array(
                'table' => 'user_requests',
                'alias' => 'UserRequest',
                'type'  => 'RIGHT',
                'conditions' => array(
                    'UserRequest.visitor_id = Visitor.id'
                )
            )
        ),
        'conditions' => array(
            'Visitor.site_id' => $this->Site->id,
            'MONTH(UserRequest.created)' => $today->format('m'),
            'YEAR(UserRequest.created)' => $today->format('Y')
        ),
        'group' => array(
            'url'
        )
    ));
}

The thing is that I how I would paginate this. It will be so easy if just copy my code out of the model and to the controller. The thing is I want the keep the query in my Model.

How is this supposed to be done in CakePHP?

tigrang tigrang · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-08T17:43:39

A custom find type is one method. You can find more information here: http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-libraries/components/pagination.html#custom-query-pagination

To turn your _getThisMonthsReferers into a custom find, follow this http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/retrieving-your-data.html#creating-custom-find-types

For example:

// model
protected function _findThisMonthsReferers($state, $query, $results = array()) {
    if ($state === 'before') {
        $query['fields'] = ....
        $query['joins'] = ....
        return $query;
    }
    return $results;
}

// controller
public $paginate = array('findType' => 'thisMonthsReferers')

EDIT:

I think it should be :

public $paginate = array('thisMonthsReferers');

However the Solution I used derived from this answer is adding this to the method I am using

$this->paginate = array('thisMonthsReferers');

Since I don't want i used in all my actions. Then paginating the Model like this.

$this->paginate('Visitor);

CakePHP Pagination. Keeping Model Fat

2 Answers