Playing around with CakePHP parameters passing through URL, I’ve noticed that using Paginator helper for listing entities mixes up named and url params in the URL.
For instance, classical paginator URL is:
http://domain.com/controller/action/page:number
which looks like:
Array(
[named
] =>Array
(
[page
] => number
)
)
Any parameter used in the Paginator goes inside of the URL and doesn’t affect the behaviour (in my case, URL param is used for language switching), i.e.
http://domain.com/controller/action/?param=foo/page:number
No matter what your
$this->params[‘url’][‘param’]
contains - it won’t reflect on the logic.
Thus, if we use another variable
$this->params['named']['foo']
, we can always access it in our viewers and utilize it in the $paginator variable, so our URL will look like:
http://domain.com/controller/action/page:number/foo:bar
Useful links:
Additional parameters in $paginator
php
cakephp, pagination, php
As the project grows I had to work on some more complex queries to provide users with better searching facilities.
In this case, you might use two options:
- Straightforward find() function from App::Model (where you’ll have to handle the outpu of data yourself, and trying to fit the search results in your websites layout)
- Use Pagination functionality (which is designed for handling big chunks of data for you)
A simple example: from a small search menu, I need to get the data about item’s price, its type etc, so at this point, find() solution would look like:
$condition =
array(‘OR’ =>
array(
‘Item.type’ =>
$this->
data[‘Item’][‘type’],
‘Item.qty’ =>
$this->
data[‘Item’][‘qty’],
),
array(‘Item.price BETWEEN ? AND ?’ =>
array($start_price,
$end_price))
);
$this->
(‘results’,
$this->
Item->
find(‘all’,
$condition));
Once you set results array in the view template, it will cause you few hours on how to rearrange data presentation, meanwhile you can use Pagination:
/*
* I’m going to use the same $condition
* the difference will be at the view level and the way of setting the data "results"
*/
$this->set(‘results’, $this->paginate(‘Item’, $condition);
And in the view you might add some code like:
<?
echo $paginator->
counter(array(
‘format’ => __
(‘%page% of %pages%, showing %current%
records out of %count% total, starting on record %start%, ending on %end%’,
true)
));
foreach($results as $i => $item):
/*
* Items output
*/
endforeach;
?>
<?php echo $paginator->prev(‘<< ‘.__(‘Previous Page’, true),
array(), null, array(‘class’=>‘disabled’));?>
| <?php echo $paginator->numbers();?>
<?php echo $paginator->next(__(‘Next Page’, true).‘ >>’,
array(), null, array(‘class’=>‘disabled’));?>
Last lines of the code would manage the results listing for you, which has to be defined in your Controller:
var $paginate =
array(
‘Item’ =>
array(
‘limit’ =>
5,
‘order’=>
array(‘Item.added’ =>
‘ASC’)
)
)
Done, now you can easily handle your search outputs. 
Linux, etc
cakephp, IT, pagination, Tips