Question

I have a site develop in cakephp 2.x
I want into my controller call a function of another controller like this:

class ProductsController extends AppController {
    public $name = 'Products';
    public $scaffold;
    public $uses = array('Product','Unit');

        public function testFunction(){
             $this->loadModel('Unit');
             $this->Unit->test();
        }
}

The function test into UintController.php is this:

public function test(){
                 echo("test");
            }

My model name are Product and Unit.
When I call the function test give me this error:

Error: SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'prova' at line 1

In the function now is empty but give me this error.
I have tried with:

public $uses = array('Unit');

and to cancel the line with $uses.

How can I solve it?

Answer 1

To call a function from another controller you can use the requestAction:

Definition

“This function calls a controller’s action from any location and returns data from the action. The $url passed is a CakePHP-relative URL (/controllername/actionname/params). To pass extra data to the receiving controller action add to the $options array”.

Usage

This is what your code would looks like:

class ProductsController extends AppController
{
    public $name = 'Products';
    public $scaffold;
    public $uses = array('Product','Unit');

    public function testFunction() {
        // Calls the action from another controller            
        echo $this->requestAction('/unit/test');             
    }
}

And then in the UnitController:

class UnitController extends AppController
{
    public function test() 
    {
        return 'Hello, I came from another controller.';
    }
}

Warning

As said in the CakePHP Cookbook:

“If used without caching requestAction can lead to poor performance. It is rarely appropriate to use in a controller or model”.

Best solution for you

But, the best solution for you, would be to create a function inside a model and then call from your controller, like this:

class ProductsController extends AppController {
    public $name = 'Products';
    public $scaffold;
    public $uses = array('Product','Unit');

    public function testFunction() {
         echo $this->Unit->test();
    }
}

And in the Unit model:

class Unit extends AppModel
{
    public function test(){
        return 'Hello, I came from a model!';
    }    
}