Question

Ok so I’m I’m fairly new to cakephp, and I have a search form with multiple fields and I have some fields that are optional in the search form. What I am trying to do is when the form is submitted, is check to see if those fields are not NULL and apply those to my find(‘all’) query.

Here is my ctp view

<h2>IDX Listings</h2>
<?php echo $this->Form->create('Listing', array('action'=>'results')); ?>
<fieldset><legend>Location Criteria</legend>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('listing_countyid', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$counties, 'default'=>'Richmond')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('listing_area', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$areas)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('listing_neighborhood', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$hoods)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('listing_subdivision', array('type'=>'select')); ?>
</fieldset>
<fieldset><legend>Market</legend>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_price', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$minPrices)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('max_price', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$maxPrices)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('listing_yearbuilt', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$years, 'label'=>'Built After')); ?>  
</fieldset>
<fieldset><legend>Size</legend>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_rooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$minRooms)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('max_rooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$maxRooms)); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_stories', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$stories, 'label'=>'Min Stories')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_listing_sqfttotal', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$minSqft, 'label'=> 'Min Sq Ft'));
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('max_listing_sqfttotal', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$maxSqft, 'label'=> 'Max Sq Ft'));
?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_bathrooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$minBath, 'label'=>'Min Bathrooms')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('max_bathrooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$maxBath, 'label'=>'Max Bathrooms')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('min_bedrooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$minBed, 'label'=>'Min Bedrooms')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('max_bedrooms', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$maxBed, 'label'=>'Max Bedrooms')); ?>
</fieldset>
<fieldset><legend>Options</legend>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('heat_type', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$heat_type, 'label'=>'Heating System')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('cool_type', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$cool_type, 'label'=>'Cooling System')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('irrigation_system', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$irrigation_system, 'label'=>'Irrigation System')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('handicap', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$handicap, 'label'=>'Handicap Equipped')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('fireplace', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$fireplace, 'label'=>'Fireplace')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('fence', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$fence, 'label'=>'Fenced')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('level1_mstr', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$level1_mstr, 'default'=>'No', 'label'=>'1st Floor Master Bedroom')); ?>
    <?php echo $this->Form->input('level1_laundry', array('type'=>'select', 'options'=>$level1_laundry, 'default'=>'No', 'label'=>'1st Floor Laundry Room')); ?>
</fieldset>
    <?php echo $this->Form->submit('Search', array('target'=>"SearchResults", 'id'=>'submit')); ?>

The fieldset that is titled Options is the optional field
The Optional field values set to an array whose initial value is NULL

Here is my search function inside my controller

function results() {
    if (!empty($this->data)) {

        $listings = $this->Idx->find('all', array(
            'conditions'=>array(
                'listing_countyid' => $this->data['Listing']['listing_countyid'],
                'listing_area' => $this->data['Listing']['listing_area'],
                'listing_neighborhood' => $this->data['Listing']['listing_neighborhood'],
                'listing_listprice >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_price'],
                'listing_listprice <=' => $this->data['Listing']['max_price'],
                'listing_rooms >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_rooms'],
                'listing_rooms <=' => $this->data['Listing']['max_rooms'],
                'listing_sqfttotal >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_listing_sqfttotal'],
                'listing_sqfttotal <=' => $this->data['Listing']['max_listing_sqfttotal'],
                'listing_stories >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_stories'],
                'listing_yearbuilt >=' => $this->data['Listing']['listing_yearbuilt'],
                'listing_bathstotal >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_bathrooms'],
                'listing_bathstotal <=' => $this->data['Listing']['max_bathrooms'],
                'listing_bedrooms >=' => $this->data['Listing']['min_bedrooms'],
                'listing_bedrooms <=' => $this->data['Listing']['max_bedrooms'],
                'listing_roommasterbrlevel' => $this->data['Listing']['level1_mstr'],
                'listing_roomlaundrylevel' => $this->data['Listing']['level1_laundry'],
                'listing_heatsystem' => $this->data['Listing']['heat_type'],
                'listing_coolsystem' => $this->data['Listing']['cool_type'],
                'listing_irrigationsrc' => $this->data['Listing']['irrigation_system'],
                'listing_fireplaces' => $this->data['Listing']['fireplace'],
                'listing_handicap' => $this->data['Listing']['handicap'],
                'listing_fence' => $this->data['Listing']['fence']
            )
        ));
        $this->set('listings', $listings);
    }
}

My returned results are correct if I remove the options from my find() query, but once I set a value in the view I don’t return the correct results. I know the SQL syntax behind the find() prepared statement is SELECT * FROM table WHERE column_name AND column_name etc. But passing a NULL value to the Database will either (1) not return the results or (2) return the wrong results. I have tried many different methods in the controller, with an OR statement, but OR is to generalized and returns to many results.

Is there a way to modify the SQL statement either in the Controller or in the my Model via the beforeFind() function (beforeFind is beyond my knowledge and its hard to find a solid example of it in use), or would I be better off checking the values and modifying the SQL statement in the Model __construct() function?

Answer 1

$conditions = array();
// it's a postback, so the key should exist
if($this->data['Listing']['listing_countyid'] !== '')
{
    $conditions['listing_countryid'] = $this->data['Listing']['listing_countyid'];
}
if($this->data['Listing']['listing_area'] !== '')
{
    $conditions['listing_area'] = $this->data['Listing']['listing_area'];
}
if($this->data['Listing']['listing_neighborhood'] !== '')
{
    $conditions['listing_neighborhood'] = $this->data['Listing']['listing_neighborhood'];
}
if($this->data['Listing']['min_price'] !== '')
{
    $conditions['listing_listprice >='] = $this->data['Listing']['min_price'];
}
if($this->data['Listing']['max_price'] !== '')
{
    $conditions['listing_listprice <='] = $this->data['Listing']['max_price'];
}

I’m sure you can see what I’m doing and you should be able to complete this for the other params. Then you can assign $conditions to the conditions key in your find function call.

$listings = $this->Idx->find('all', array(
    'conditions' => $conditions
));

I considered assigning the $condtions in a loop, but that could be a bit complicated with min and max values.