I hit upon a slight elaboration of the idea of adding debug( ) calls
which I have found very useful for untangling a problematic find( ) or
other query. Basically, I added to my controller another action whose
only purpose is to display the output of such queries. For example,
here is what this action currently looks like (slightly sanitized):
function zztest() {
# set up query
$user_id = 43;
$subject_id = 2;
$myaction_data = $this->Myaction->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'Myaction.user_id'=>$user_id,
'Myaction.subject_id'=>$subject_id),
'fields' => array(
'max(fact_count)')));
# output results
$this->set('result', $myaction_data);
}
and here is the corresponding view:
zztest.ctp:
<?php
echo "<b>zztest</b><br>\n";
debug($result);
?>
Whenever I have a find( ) or a query( ) or whatever whose behavior is
causing problems, I copy and paste it over the lines between the two
comments in zztest. Sometimes, I have to set up dummy values for
variables, as in this example. Then I run this action in a different
browser window:
http://mydomain.com/myaction/zztest
This will show the output of the query in the handy debug-style
format, without messing up the appearance of the real page. Using it,
I can immediately check out the query, and even play with it without
having to touch my real code. When I have figured out the problem
(e.g., what combination of numbers and strings I actually get back as
keys for my data), then I can fix my real code and move on. What's
more, while I'm figuring this out, I don't have to clutter up my real
code with bits of debugging. Also, it can be pretty handy to have your
app running in one browser window and zztest in another. That way, you
are not having to flip back and forth between two different URLs in
the same browser window, but just flip between the two windows if you
need to.
Of course, you can use this same idea of a special purpose debug
action for any kind of experimentation, such as trying out different
library functions, or just learning how PHP works.
On Mar 20, 11:48 am, brian <bally.z...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You might want to consider using the Model's afterFind() method,
> instead. But, if you'd rather do it in the controller, the best way to
> figure out how to access your data is to toss a debug($mydata) in
> there. (seems to be my standard response these days ;-) You're
> probably getting hung up on the numerical indexes for a hasMany
> relation or something.
>
> On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 11:19 AM, ryanam1 <ryan...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
>
> > How can I access data within a controller?
>
> > Lets say I have the following find() method in my controller
>
> > $mydata=$this->User->find('all', array('conditions'=>'new;),
> > 'fields'=>array('name'))
>
> > Let's say I wanted to do some sort of proccessing to that data before
> > outputting to a view.... How would I do that?
>
> > I see examples of how to output that data in the view but I see none
> > about accessing the data from within the controller.
>
> > I figure I should do a loop but how should I write $mydata?
>
> > Should it be like this: $mydata['User']['name'] ? That seems to
> > work in the view but I get a "Undefined Index" error when I write it
> > that way from within the controller.
>
> > I don't have the issue when a method returns one record such as field
> > () because it is not returning an array....
>
> > I hope I'm not confusing anyone :(
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