Question

I have a model Tasklist, and each Tasklist item belongs to a Service item.

In my Tasklist controller:

function index() {
  $this->Tasklist->recursive = 0;
  $this->set('tasklists', $this->Tasklist->find('all', array(
    'order' => array(
      'Service.name' => 'ASC',
      'Tasklist.name' => 'ASC'
    )
  )));
}

Relevant part of my simple index View:

<?php foreach ($tasklists as $tasklist): ?>
    <tr>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['name']; ?></td>
      <td>
      <?php echo $this->Html->link($tasklist['Service']['name'], array('controller' => 'services', 'action' => 'view', $tasklist['Service']['id'])); ?>
      </td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['created']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['modified']; ?></td>
      <td>
      <?php echo $this->Html->link(__('Edit', true), array('action' => 'edit', $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']), array('class' => 'button edit')); ?>
      </td>
    </tr>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Instead of printing the Service name in every table row I would like to print it as a with the Tasklists grouped beneath each one:

<tr>
      <th colspan="5"><?php echo $this->Html->link($tasklist['Service']['name'], array('controller' => 'services', 'action' => 'view', $tasklist['Service']['id'])); ?></th>
</tr>
<tr>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['name']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['created']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['modified']; ?></td>
      <td>
      <?php echo $this->Html->link(__('Edit', true), array('action' => 'edit', $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']), array('class' => 'button edit')); ?>
      </td>
</tr>

I have experimented with using the group parameter in my controller and a nested foreach in my view, but cannot get it to work.

Answer 1

I’d do it like this

   $current_service = '';
    <?php foreach ($tasklists as $tasklist): ?>
    <?php if($current_service != $tasklist['Service']['name']): ?>
    <tr>
          <th colspan="5"><?php echo $this->Html->link($tasklist['Service']['name'], array('controller' => 'services', 'action' => 'view', $tasklist['Service']['id'])); ?></th>
    </tr>
    <?php $current_service = $tasklist['Service']['name']; ?>
    <?php endif; ?>
    <tr>
          <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']; ?></td>
          <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['name']; ?></td>
          <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['created']; ?></td>
          <td><?php echo $tasklist['Tasklist']['modified']; ?></td>
          <td>
          <?php echo $this->Html->link(__('Edit', true), array('action' => 'edit', $tasklist['Tasklist']['id']), array('class' => 'button edit')); ?>
          </td>
    </tr>

    <?php endforeach; ?>