CakePHP changing virtual fields at runtime - php

Question

I have a Product model for a multi site application.
Depending on the domain(site) I want to load different data.
For example instead of having a name and description fields in my database I have posh_name, cheap_name, posh_description, and cheap_description.
if I set something up like this:
class Product extends AppModel
{
var $virtualFields = array(
'name' => 'posh_name',
'description' => 'posh_description'
);
}
Then it always works, whether accessed directly from the model or via association.
But I need the virtual fields to be different depending on the domain. So first I creating my 2 sets:
var $poshVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'posh_name',
'description' => 'posh_description'
);
var $cheapVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'cheap_name',
'description' => 'cheap_description'
);
So these are my 2 sets, but how do I assign the correct one based on domain? I do have a global function called isCheap() that lets me know if I am on the lower end domain or not.
so I tried this:
var $virtualFields = isCheap() ? $this->cheapVirtualFields : $this->poshVirtualFields;
This gives me an error. Apparently you cannot assign variables in a Class definition like this.
So I put this in my Product model instead:
function beforeFind($queryData)
{
$this->virtualFields = isCheap() ? $this->cheapVirtualFields : $this->poshVirtualFields;
return $queryData;
}
This works ONLY when the data is accessed directly from the model, DOES NOT work when the data is accessed via model association.
There has got to be a way to get this to work right. How?

Answer 1

Well if I put it in the constructor instead of the beforeFind callback it seems to work:
class Product extends AppModel
{
var $poshVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'posh_name',
'description' => 'posh_description'
);
var $cheapVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'cheap_name',
'description' => 'cheap_description'
);
function __construct($id = false, $table = null, $ds = null) {
parent::__construct($id, $table, $ds);
$this->virtualFields = isCheap() ? $this->cheapVirtualFields : $this->poshVirtualFields;
}
}
However, I am not sure if this is a CakePHP no no that can come back to bite me?

Answer 2

seems like the issue could be that the model association is a model that is built on the fly. eg AppModel
try and do pr(get_class($this->Relation)); in the code and see what the output is, it should be your models name and not AppModel.
also try and use:
var $poshVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'Model.posh_name',
'description' => 'Model.posh_description'
);
var $cheapVirtualFields = array(
'name' => 'Model.cheap_name',
'description' => 'Model.cheap_description'
);