I've been using counter caches for a lot of my models. One question I have that I am not sure how to do.
I have a User model, and an Activity model. Activity has a column called type that can be things like, run, walk, etc.
I know I can easily create a counter cache for activity_count in the users table. But I want to have counter columns like run_count, walk_count that count activities with type ="run", or type = "walk", etc. but with still all the benefits of automatic updates to the counts.
Is there an easy way to do this? Thanks!
You can do this using COunterCache... the only thing is, you should define seperate belongsTo relationships for each activity. First let me say this isn't the best wat to solve this in practice, but just because you asked:
var $belongsTo = array(
'UserWalk' => array(
'counterCache' => true,
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'className' => 'User',
'conditions' => array('Activity.type' => 'walk'),
'counterScope' => array('Activity.type' => 'walk')
),
'UserRun' => array(
'counterCache' => true,
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'className' => 'User',
'conditions' => array('Activity.type' => 'run'),
'counterScope' => array('Activity.type' => 'run')
),
);
After that Cake will look for the Count field for each associated model. The fieldsnaming for the counterChache should now be something like user_run_count or userrun_count (I do not know the convention for this)
nope. You can count type ="run", or type = "walk", or just normal count, but only one of them. On the other hand, the code to update that isn't too bad. You can also add that logic in afterSave.
Related
can anyone tell me, how to retrieve joined result from multiple tables in cakePHP ( using cakePHP mvc architecture). For example, I have three tables to join (tbl_topics, tbl_items, tbl_votes. Their relationship is defined as following: a topic can have many items and an item can have many votes. Now I want to retrieve a list of topics with the count of all votes on all items for each topic. The SQL query for this is written below:
SELECT Topic.*, count(Vote.id) voteCount
FROM
tbl_topics AS Topic
LEFT OUTER JOIN tbl_items AS Item
ON (Topic.id = Item.topic_id)
LEFT OUTER JOIN tbl_votes AS Vote
ON (Item.id = Vote.item_id);
My problem is I can do it easily using $this-><Model Name>->query function, but this requires sql code to be written in the controller which I don't want. I'm trying to find out any other way to do this (like find()).
$markers = $this->Marker->find('all', array('joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'markers_tags',
'alias' => 'MarkersTag',
'type' => 'inner',
'foreignKey' => false,
'conditions'=> array('MarkersTag.marker_id = Marker.id')
),
array(
'table' => 'tags',
'alias' => 'Tag',
'type' => 'inner',
'foreignKey' => false,
'conditions'=> array(
'Tag.id = MarkersTag.tag_id',
'Tag.tag' => explode(' ', $this->params['url']['q'])
)
)
)));
as referred to in nate abele's article: link text
I'll be honest here and say that you'll probably be a lot happier if you just create a function in your model, something like getTopicVotes() and calling query() there. Every other solution I can think of will only make it more complicated and therefore uglier.
Edit:
Depending on the size of your data, and assuming you've set up your model relations properly (Topic hasMany Items hasMany Votes), you could do a simple find('all') containing all the items and votes, and then do something like this:
foreach ($this->data as &$topic)
{
$votes = Set::extract('/Topic/Item/Vote', $topic);
$topic['Topic']['vote_count'] = count($votes);
}
Two things are important here:
If you have a lot of data, you should probably forget about this approach, it will be slow as hell.
I've written this from my memory and it might not look like this in real life and/or it may not work at all :-)
You can easily set the "recursive" property on a find() query.
$result = $this->Topic->find('all', array('recursive' => 2));
Alternatively, you can use the Containable behavior in your model. Then you can use:
$this->Topic->contain(array(
'Item',
'Item.Vote',
));
$result = $this->Topic->find('all');
or
$result = $this->Topic->find('all', array(
'contain' => array(
'Item',
'Item.Vote',
),
));
What you need is recursive associations support, which is not possible with stock CakePHP currently.
Although it could be achieved using some bindModel trickery
or an experimental RecursiveAssociationBehavior.
Both of these solutions will either require you to use extra code or rely on a behaviour in your application but if you resist the temptation to write pure SQL code, you'll be rewarded with being able to use Cake`s pagination, auto conditions, model magic etc..
I think this answer is already submitted, but I am posting here for someone who seeks still for this.
The joins can be done with find() method can be like below
$result = $this->ModelName1->find("all",array(
'fields' => array('ModelName1.field_name','Table2.field_names'), // retrieving fileds
'joins' => array( // join array
array(
'table' => 'table_name',
'alias' => 'Table2',
'type' => 'inner',
'foreignKey' => false,
'conditions'=> array('ModelName1.id = Table2.id') // joins conditions array
),
array(
'table' => 'table_name3',
'alias' => 'Table3',
'type' => 'inner',
'foreignKey' => false,
'conditions'=> array('Table3.id = Table2.id')
)
)));
You should study HaBTM (Has and Belongs to Many)
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/associations-linking-models-together.html
I`m having a problem with the Containable behaviour.
I would like to know if there is any way to access the contained model attributes for operations like ordering.
For example, I have a model B which belongs to a Model A. I need to order objects of B using an attribute (integer) of A. It would be something like:
'contain' => array(
'A' => array(
'B' => array(
'order' => 'A.integer_attribute'
)
)
)
I know that there are easier ways to do this without Containable, but for reasons which are not worth being detailed here, I need to use it. This is an abstract example, in truth model A belongs to other models and this is just a small part of a deep containable tree.
I'd be very glad with any help!
EDIT
OK, I'll try my best to describe the situation without being unclear:
I have 4 models: User, Category, Field and UserField, and their relationships are as follows:
Category hasMany User
Category hasMany Field
User hasMany UserField
Field hasMany UserField
The opposite of these relations are all belongsTo. The purpose here is that the user belongs to a category, which has many fields that he needs to fill with his information (city, state etc). The information he fills is stored in the UserField table, as each information needs to have its field and the user who provided it.
That said, I need to build a screen which displays, for each category, a list of users and their information. So, I retrieve all the categories and its fields, so I can build a table for each category. Each field has an attribute "no_order", which is the number that indicates the order in which the field appears.
At the same time, I need all of each category's users to display them correctly in the tables. Finally, and there's the problem, I need to have UserField objects ordered by the "no_order" of their respective fields, for each user. So I ended up with something like:
$categories = $this->Category->find('all', array(
'order' => 'Category.name',
'contain' => array(
'Field',
'User' => array(
'UserField' => array(
'order' => 'Field.no_order'
)
)
)
));
But this doesn't work, since UserField cannot reach its respective Field's no_order from there.
I apologize if this wasn't clear enough, but for anyone who would spend a little while reading this, I would be VERY grateful for your help!
I am not shure for what do you want so, but I thing that should use joins of cakephp
$A = $this->A->find('all', array(
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'B',
'alias' => 'B',
'type' => 'LEFT',
'conditions' => array(
'B.field_id = A.id'
)
)
),
'conditions' => array(
'B.field' => 'if_you_want_more_conditions'
),
'contain' => array(
'A' => array(
'B' => array(
'order' => 'A.integer_attribute'
)
)
),
'fields' => array('A.field','B.field'),
'recursive' => -1
));
I finally came up with a solution. I don't know how efficient it is, but there it goes:
'contain' => array(
'Field',
'User' => array(
'User.privilege = "Solicitante"'
'UserField' => array(
'order' => '(SELECT f.no_order FROM fields AS f WHERE UserField.field_id = f.id LIMIT 1)'
)
)
)
Having the raw query solved my problem. Hope it helps anybody who comes across a similar problem!
I have a very deep association in Cake:
User
---- Garage
---- ---- Vehicle
---- ---- ---- VehicleAlbum
What is the best way to check if a VehicleAlbum belongs to a user?
Because doing a recursive 3 is very expensive. I have looked into contain, is this the best solution?
Thanks, Josh.
There is no such thing as recursive 3 (see book).
Nor can you use Containable to limit your find results based on a child condition (see reasoning).
I assume you'll want to do something like this (starting with Garage to reduce one query needed, since it has the user id as a field):
$this->Garage->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'Garage.user_id' => $userId
),
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'vehicles',
'alias' => 'Vehicle',
'type' => 'inner',
'conditions' => array(
'Vehicle.garage_id = Garage.id'
)
),
array(
'table' => 'vehicle_albums',
'alias' => 'VehicleAlbum',
'type' => 'inner',
'conditions' => array(
'VehicleAlbum.vehicle_id = Vehicle.id',
'VehicleAlbum.id' => $vehicleAlbumId
)
)
)
));
Should return result(s) if it is the owner or empty if not.
No it will not be expensive until unless you are making a wrong query. Well write a query and join all the four tables and run explain...then check whether it is expensive or cheap. One more thing in your case if these tables are connected as shown above then you have to pay for the join query there is no other way out except changing your relations between the tables.
When I was working on my current project, I ran into a rather complex issue. I'll point out my problem much more detailed right now:
There are three Models: User, UsersExtendedField and UsersExtended.
UsersExtendedField contains custom fields that can be managed manually. All custom fields can be shown in the Users view as well, and be filled out of course. The values are then stored in UsersExtended, which has got two foreignKeys: user_id and field_id.
The relations look like this: User hasMany UsersExtendedField, UsersExtendedField hasMany UsersExtended, UsersExtended belongsTo User, UsersExtendedField.
The problem: When accessing the Users view, a form with user information input is shown. Any UsersExtendedFields are available as well, and since these hasMany UsersExtended, they've got plenty of UsersExtended values. But I want to reduce those to only the value(s) that belong to the User, whose view is shown at the moment. Here are my (desired) relations:
Croogo::hookBehavior('User', 'Crooboard.ExtendedUser', array(
'relationship' => array(
'hasMany' => array(
'UsersExtendedField' => array(
'className' => 'Crooboard.UsersExtendedField',
'foreignKey' => '',
'conditions' => array('status' => 1)
),
),
),
));
class UsersExtendedField extends AppModel {
var $name = 'UsersExtendedField';
var $displayField = 'fieldname';
var $hasMany = array(
'UsersExtended' => array(
'className' => 'Crooboard.UsersExtended',
'foreignKey' => 'field_id',
'conditions' => array(
'UsersExtended.user_id = User.id'
)
),
);
}
This is not the full code, these are the important parts. The problem starts right where I wrote 'UsersExtended.user_id = User.id'. Obviously, this won't work. But I do not have any idea how to access the User.id here. I also could not imagine a HABTM structure to solve this task. Do you have any idea how to get the semantics of this 'UsersExtended.user_id = User.id' to work?
Thank your very much for taking the time to read through this and helping me!
It sounds like you need to set up your HABTM relationship properly.
You already have the join table, UsersExtended, which contains your foreign keys.
Remove all previous relationships and set up HABTM in each of your User and UserExtendedField models.
The relationship code in your User model would look like this:
var $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
'UsersExtended' => array(
'className' => 'UsersExtended',
'joinTable' => 'UsersExtended', //assuming this is the
//name of that model's table
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'associationForeignKey' => 'field_id'
)
);
For more information check out the page in the cakephp book
In addition, this blog post helped me grasp the relationship concepts when I was learning cakephp.
Im using cakephp and Im stuck about the idea of listing multiple models, here's my scenario:
I have two major models namely Task and Events. I used the Events model to track all changes. this has the ff fields: id, model, model_id, changed
I used Events table to track multiple model changes. so when something changed to Task model it will be logged to Events models (get the idea??)
What I want to do is whenever i used the find method for Event model, i want to list the model information (for example, the Task model) together with my Events information like this:
array(
[0] => array (
[Event] => array(
id => 1
model => Task
model_id => 2
changed => array()
)
[Task] => array(
id => 2
name => Task 1
descp => Test Task
)
)
)
Note: The model can be any model, it can be Projects model.
At my task.php, it is no problem because i can easily declare:
var $hasMany = array(
'Events' => array(
'className' => 'Events',
'foreignKey' => 'model_id',
'dependent' => false,
'conditions' => array('Events.model' => 'Task')
)
);
I can get Events information using the find method on task although using
$this->Task->Event->find('all');
will not work, i dont know why.
So as soon as I declare, something like this in my Event Model:
var $belongsTo = array(
'Task' => array(
'className' => 'Task',
'foreignKey' => 'model_id',
'conditions' => array('Event.model' => 'Task', 'Event.model_id' => 'Task.id'),
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
)
);
will throw an SQL error. Do you guys have an idea how to implement it??
Thanks in advanced. :)
I use polymorphic models all the time. The reason that $this->Task->Event->find('all') doesn't work is that you were performing the find on the Event model which, until you defined its belongsTo association, didn't have any means of retrieving the Task info.
As for now, the only thing I see that looks odd is that you've aliased your Task association as Events (plural) rather than its singular version which is the convention for models. You also identified the className as the plural version.