CakePHP - Searching 3 tables efficiently using JOIN - php

Question

I'm currently trying to implement a search engine function in my CakePHP site, trying to return information from 3 tables efficiently. The main usage will be numeric searches, free text will be extremely minimal and as such I'm not trying to optimise for this scenario.
Companies hasMany Products
Products hasMany Prices
Ideally I'd like to be able to use something like the following function in the Products controller (this won't work due to distant relationships):
$results = $this->Product->find('all', array(
//conditions can be defined against all 3 tables
'conditions' =>. array(
'company.name LIKE' => '%'.$search_term.'%',
'product.feature' => $product_feature,
'price.price <' => $price
),
//fields restricted against all 3 tables
'fields' => array(
'company.name',
'product.feature',
'price.price'
)
));
I've tried using Containable behaviour to include the three models but to no avail.
I believe the solution lies with JOINS but my experience with these is limited, I've tried code similar to the following within the find function above:
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'companies',
'alias' => 'Company',
//tried a mix of joins (LEFT, RIGHT, INNER)
'type' => 'LEFT',
'conditions' => array(
'Company.id = Product.company_id'
)
),
array(
'table' => 'prices',
'alias' => 'Price',
//tried a mix of joins (LEFT, RIGHT, INNER)
'type' => 'LEFT',
'conditions' => array(
'Price.product_id = Product.id'
)
),
),
'recursive' => 1,
Edit: The result of the above joins is that when i specify the price in the conditions or fields that it can't be found, I tried changing the names such as Product.Price.price to account for the one to many relationship but still without luck.
I'd appreciate any help in finding a solution!

Answer 1

I prefer less code with cake model/table naming convention (db table products - model name Product, db table prices - model name Price) for further project management. It's looks like You want to do:
$results = $this->Product->find('all', array(
'fields' => array(
'Company.name',
'Product.feature',
'Price.price'
),
'joins' => array(
'LEFT JOIN companies AS Company ON Product.company_id = Company.id
LEFT JOIN prices AS Price ON Product.id = Price.product_id'
),
'conditions' => array(
'Company.name LIKE' => '%'.$search_term.'%',
'Product.feature' => $product_feature,
'Price.price <' => $price
),
));
but if You want to get products with Your all criteria (company and price) only, You should use INNER JOIN, and GROUP BY Product (group option).
Also, if You want to get all products with many prices and companies result and You set/link model relations, You can use contain option, like:
$contain = array(
'Company' => array(
// ...
'conditions' => array('Company.name LIKE' => '%'.$search_term.'%'),
// ...
),
'Price' => array(
// you can set: 'fields' => array('id', ...),
'conditions' => array('Price.price <' => $price),
// you can set order: 'ordder' => '....'
)
);
$this->Product->attach('Containable');
$post = $this->Product->find('all', array(
// ...
'contain' => $contain,
'conditions' => array('Product.feature' => $product_feature),
// ...
));
So You will get all products with feature => $product_feautre, and You get LEFT JOIN companies and prices to this products.
Hope this helps.