Ways to use array in cakephp - cakephp

Question

Hello I am having a tought time figuring out how to use arrays in cakephp. right now i have a view with 2 columns, active and startYear. i need to grab the start years for all of the columns in the view and sho i have this code.
public function initialize(array $config)
{
$this->setTable('odb.SchoolYear');
}
controller
public function index()
{
$deleteTable = $this->loadModel('DeletedTranscripts');
$this->$deleteTable->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'field' => 500,
'status' => 'Confirmed'
),
'order' => 'ASC'
));
$this->set('startYear',$deleteTable );
}
once i have the array captured and put into lets say startYear can in input a statement like this into my dropdown list to populate it?
<div class="dropdown-menu">
<a class="dropdown-item" href="#"><?= $delete->startYear; ?></a>
</div>
i have been looking for answers for quite awhile any help would be awesome.

Answer 1

Couple of things:
Loading Tables in CakePHP
For this line:
$deleteTable = $this->loadModel('DeletedTranscripts');
While you can get a table this way, there's really no reason to set the return of loadModel to a variable. This function sets a property of the same name on the Controller, which almost correctly used on the next line. Just use:
$this->loadModel('DeletedTranscripts');
Then you can start referencing this Table with:
$this->DeletedTranscripts
Additionally, if you're in say the DeletedTranscriptsController - the corresponding Table is loaded for you automatically, this call might be unnecessary entirely.
Getting Query Results
Next, you're close on the query part, you've can start to build a new Query with:
$this->DeletedTranscripts->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'field' => 500,
'status' => 'Confirmed'
),
'order' => 'ASC'
));
But note that the find() function does not immediately return results - it's just building a query. You can continue to modify this query with additional functions (like ->where() or ->contain()).
To get results from a query you need to call something like toArray() to get all results or first() to get a single one, like so:
$deletedTranscriptsList = $this->DeletedTranscripts->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'field' => 500,
'status' => 'Confirmed'
),
'order' => 'ASC'
))->toArray();
Sending data to the view
Now that you've got the list, set that so it's available in your view as an array:
$this->set('startYear', $deletedTranscriptsList );
See also:
Using Finders to Load Data
Setting View Variables
I also noticed you've had a few other related questions recently - CakePHP's docs are really good overall, it does cover these systems pretty well. I'd encourage you to read up as much as possible on Controller's & View's.
I'd also maybe suggest running through the CMS Tutorial if you've not done so already, the section covering Controllers might help explain a number of CakePHP concepts related here & has some great working examples.
Hope this helps!