Question

How do I change the find query order option so the username comes first for the result?

$params = array(
                        'fields' => array('User.firstname', 'User.lastname', 'User.username', 'User.lat', 'User.lng', 'User.thumbnail_image', 'User.status', '6371 * ACos( Cos( RADIANS( User.lat ) ) * Cos( RADIANS( '.$lat.' ) ) * Cos( RADIANS( '.$lng.' ) - RADIANS( User.lng ) ) + Sin( RADIANS( User.lat ) ) * Sin( RADIANS( '.$lat.' ) ) ) as distance'),
                        'limit' => 15,
                        'recursive' => 1,
                        'offset' => $offset,
                        'order' => array('User.status DESC','User.lastname ASC', 'distance ASC')
                        //'conditions' => array('User.id !=' => $user_id)
                        );
                $results = $this->User->find('all', $params);

I’ve got this so far but cannot seem to change it so a certain user(1 user) comes in the first row of results.

Is there a solution for this in Cakephp?

Answer 1

The raw SQL you need might look like:

SELECT 
CASE WHEN User.id = 200
  THEN 0 
  ELSE 1  END as user_sort, ... rest, of, your, params
ORDER BY user_sort, ... rest, of, your, ordering, criteria
LIMIT 15

In CakePHP you should use a virtual field to create the user_sort and then just add it to your order array.

In your user model add a virtual field for user_sort:

public $virtualFields = array(
        'user_sort' => 'if( User.id  = 200 , 0 , 1)'    
);

Then you would add to your order array like so:

array('User.user_sort','User.status DESC','User.lastname ASC', 'distance ASC')