Accessing model data inside a controller in CakePHP 2.0 - php

Question

I'm trying to access data in my Model for my controller method.
For starters what is the difference between these two???
$post = $this->Post->find('first',array('conditions'=>array('Post.id'=>$id)));
$this->set(compact('post'));
and
$this->Post->id = $id;
$this->data = $this->Post->read();
as I'm trying to compare the user_id for a post against the logged in user like so:
if($this->Post->user_id != $this->Auth->user('id'))
but it doesn't work as intended (it always returns false)... what is the difference between the two code chunks and why doesn't my line above work properly?

Answer 1

test to see if it helps to compare this code "userid":
function index() {
$user_id = $this->data['Post']['user_id'];
if($user_id != $this->Auth->user('id')){
//go
}
}

Answer 2

This is what I ended up with:
$post = $this->Post->find('first',array('conditions'=>array('Post.id'=>Tiny::reverseTiny($id))));
if ($this->request->is('post') || $this->request->is('put'))
{
$this->Post->id = $post['Post']['id'];
if ($this->Post->save($this->request->data))
{
$this->Session->setFlash('Your post has been updated');
$this->redirect(array('controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'index'));
}
else
{
$this->Session->setFlash('Server broke!');
}
}
else
{
if($post['Post']['user_id'] != $this->Auth->user('id'))
{
$this->Session->setFlash('Not yours!');
$this->redirect(array('controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'index'));
}
else
{
$this->request->data = $this->Post->read(null, $post['Post']['id']);
}
}

Answer 3

There are differences between find() and read(), read will grab all related model data and set the active record of the model to the result. Whereas a find will just all related model data in a query and assign the result to the variable.
Use debug($this->data) to reveal the structure of your returned data. You will find it is $this->data['Post']['user_id'] for the User ID.