Question

I know how to limit fields when dealing with a collection, but what I’m wondering is if I can limit the selected fields when using getModel()->load($id).

My thought process is if I know the ID I use:

Mage::getModel('model')->load($id)

as opposed to:

Mage::getModel('model')->getCollection()->addFieldToFilter('id', $id)->getFirstItem();

The issue is load($id) returns everything. I know I can use addFieldToSelect on the collection. Is there an equivalent when using load()? When I google this I get the collection method.

Thanks,
GG

EDIT:
I just want to add that if the collection way is how it’s done than that’s fine. I just want to make sure it can’t be done using load().

Answer 1

No, there is no alternative to use the collection except for rewriting the model code altogether which is probably not what you want to do.
The model load call can only be used to load a full entry – what you can specify is the attribute which to use for the load. For example:

Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($sku,'sku')

will load a product by its sku.

In fact the model load itself simply defers to it’s resource by doing:

$this->_getResource()->load($this, $id, $field);

But the resource load method does also not provide the ability to filter for specific attributes, so you will always load the full pack or use the collection.