Order data using values stored in another table

Question

I've been using cakephp for a while, but have not learned all the ins and outs yet so I may be missing something simple. Or the problem may lie with my database structure. Either way, if anyone has any idea of what I'm doing wrong, please share.

Is there a way to order the data returned by cakephp's find using values stored in another table?

I am creating custom form fields on a per category basis, so when I choose a particular category to post in, custom fields will be added to my form. I have 3 tables: Posts, Fields, and Answers. The Posts table stores the basic static information for the post, such as id, category_id, title, and description. The Fields table stores the custom field data, such as category_id, field_label, field size, etc. The Answers table stores the values that are entered for particular fields, such as post_id, field_id, value.

I am trying to display the posts for a particular category, and create html table headers on the fly, using select fields, set by a column toggle in the fields table, and also select the answers associated with that particular field and post.

I am able to select all the data I want, and paginate everything just fine, but what I can't seem to figure out is how to order the data using one of the dynamic column values. For example, if I have year, make, and model as 3 custom fields, I would like to click the year column to sort my results by the year values, and if I click the make column, I would like to sort my results by the make values, etc.

I know how to order the results by a particular field inside the posts table, such as id or title, but is it possible to order using the custom fields? Am I setting up the database and/or something else wrong, and if not is there are particular cakephp method or sql command that I need to use in order to sort by the custom fields? I'm not really well versed in complex sql commands.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I'd suggest you pass the field name and sort direction in the URL (GET param). So when you have your table header link, form it so that it links to a URL as so:

http://somesite.com/pages/index/sort:customfield1/dir:asc

Then when you're grabbing the data from the db in your find() query, include the named parameters as the order parameter that can be sent to find.

You'll need to determine a default sorting column and direction. Maybe have that be selectable with a boolean field in the schema -- if there are no parameters sent to the action above, pull the field from your other table that has default set to true in the record.

To clarify: when a user visits a given action, first you'll pull the custom fields from the other table. Then using those fields (either the default as mentioned above, or the named params passed in the URL) form the query for the actual data, using the order parameter.