How do I display the record count of a related model with CakePHP?

Question

I have two models. Lets say they are "Posts" and "Comments". In an admin view for Posts, I want to display how many comments are on that post. I am confused on where to put the code. In the controller or the view? I would like it to be in the controller.

Answer 1

Yes,you're right.You should get data in the controller,then display it in the view.And what you describe in your question is exactly like the example in the cookbook.Assume you have related then with Post hasMany Comment,you can find the count using:

$comment_count = $this->Post->Comment->find('count',array('conditions'=>array('Comment.post_id'=>$postid)));

Answer 2

Another option is to cache your count. With this approach, you'd add the field comment_count to your posts table, then modify your Comment model's belongsTo association like this:

class Comment extends AppModel
{
    var $belongsTo = array(
        'Post' => array( 'counterCache' => true )
    );
}

Anytime a new Comment record is created, the comment_count of the associated Post record is incremented, and decremented anytime an associated Comment is deleted.