Debugging SQL in controller - cakephp

Question

I am trying to debug my sql but I am having a hard time. I know I can use this:
<?php echo $this->element('sql_dump'); ?>
to dump the sql but this doesnt (or at least I dont know how to use it) work if I am doing an ajax call. Because the page is not reloaded, the dump does not get refreshed. How can I run my command and debug the sql? Here is the code I have in my controller:
public function saveNewPolicy(){
$this->autoRender = false;
$policyData = $this->request->data["policyData"];
$numRows=0;
$data = array(
'employee_id' => trim($policyData[0]["employeeId"]),
'insurancetype_id'=> $policyData[0]["insuranceTypeId"],
'company' => $policyData[0]["companyName"],
'policynumber' => $policyData[0]["policyNumber"],
'companyphone' => $policyData[0]["companyPhone"],
'startdate'=> $policyData[0]["startDate"],
'enddate'=> $policyData[0]["endDate"],
'note' => $policyData[0]["notes"]
);
try{
$this->Policy->save($data);
$numRows =$this->Policy->getAffectedRows();
if($numRows>0){
$dataId = $this->Policy->getInsertID();
$response =json_encode(array(
'success' => array(
'msg' =>"Successfully Added New Policy.",
'newId' => $dataId
),
));
return $response;
}else{
throw new Exception("Unspecified Error. Data Not Save! ");
}
}catch (Exception $e){
return $this->EncodeError($e);
}
}
The problem is that if the company field in my array is empty, empty, the insert will fail without any error. I know it has failed, though, because of the numrows variable I use. I know the field accepts nulls in the database. It seems like the only way for me to debug this is to look at what SQL is being sent to MySql. Anyone know how to debug it? I am using CakePhp 2.4

Answer 1

I use this approach. I added this method in my AppModel class:
public function getLastQuery() {
$dbo = $this->getDatasource();
$logs = $dbo->getLog();
$lastLog = end($logs['log']);
return $lastLog['query'];
}
and then in any controller you call this like:
debug($this->{your model here}->getLastQuery());

Answer 2

Rather than trying to hack around in CakePHP, perhaps it would be easier to just log the queries with MySQL and do a tail -f on the log file? Here's how you can turn that on:
In MySQL, run SHOW VARIABLES; and look for general_log and general_log_file entries
If general_log is OFF, run SET GLOBAL general_log = 'ON'; to turn it on
In a terminal, run a tail -f logfile.log (log file location is in the general_log_file entry) to get a streaming view of the log as it's written to
This is very helpful for these circumstances to see what's going on behind the scenes, or if you have debug off for some reason.