Data from mutiple tables without any relationships - cakephp

Question

I have two models PrintEvent and SocialEvent with 2 tables as given below:-
print_events:-
╔════╤════════════════════════╤════════════╗
║ id │ name │ date ║
╠════╪════════════════════════╪════════════╣
║ 1 │ Important print event1 │ 01/05/2015 ║
╟────┼────────────────────────┼────────────╢
║ 2 │ Important print event2 │ 02/05/2015 ║
╟────┼────────────────────────┼────────────╢
║ 3 │ Important print event3 │ 03/05/2015 ║
╚════╧════════════════════════╧════════════╝
social_events:-
╔════╤═════════════════════════╤════════════╗
║ id │ name │ date ║
╠════╪═════════════════════════╪════════════╣
║ 1 │ Important social event1 │ 01/05/2015 ║
╟────┼─────────────────────────┼────────────╢
║ 2 │ Important social event2 │ 02/05/2015 ║
╟────┼─────────────────────────┼────────────╢
║ 3 │ Important social event3 │ 03/05/2015 ║
╚════╧═════════════════════════╧════════════╝
Now I have a search form with 'event date from' and 'event date to' fields and want to show the list of records from both tables using one model or any other way to achieve this but don't want to use separate queries using both models.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Without relation between the tables? Then you just have to do 2 queries instead.
or just do:
class yourFirstModel extends AppModel{
$public $hasMany = array('secondModel');
}
Then
class secondModel extends AppModel{
$public $belongTo = array('yourFirstModel');
}
And when you query any of these Models you should be able to get data from both tables.
Ok, here is another way of using join if you do not want to use my first approach.
You modify the query to meet your own specification.
$this->PrintEvent->find('all', array(
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'social_events',
'alias' => 'EventJoin',
'type' => 'INNER',
'conditions' => array(
'EventJoin.date = PrintEvent.date'
)
)
),
'conditions' => array(
'PrintEvent.date' => $searchConditions
),
'fields' => array('EventJoin.*', 'PrintEvent.*'),
'order' => 'PrintEvent.date DESC'
));
Note that this has to be in your controller.
Let me know if this help.

Answer 2

As far as I understand CakePHP models can only ever represent one table each. You may need to resort to using query() to preform the UNION SQL:-
$this->PrintEvent->query('SELECT id, name, date FROM print_events UNION SELECT id, name, date FROM social_events');
I would normally advise against using this method, but I believe what you are trying to achieve is not supported by the framework directly.