cakephp combine find() queries - cakephp

Question

I am still new to Cakephp I have 3 find queries to the same model and I have tried to combine them to make one. Finding it hard with the cake way of accessing the data. Especial that they have different find condition. Maybe it cant be done.
Cakephp version 2.3.5
// Count Total Members
$totalMemebers = $this->Member->find('count');
$this->set('totalMemebers', $totalMemebers);
// SUM total points gained for the last 7 days (positive values)
$this->Member->Point->virtualFields['gainedTotal'] = 'SUM(Point.points)';
$gainedTotal = $this->Member->Point->find('all', array(
'recursive'=> -1,
'fields' => array('gainedTotal'),
'conditions'=>array(
'Point.points >'=>0,
'Point.date >' => date('Y-m-d', strtotime("-1 weeks")))
)
);
$this->set('gainedTotal', $gainedTotal);
// SUM total points redeemed for the last 7 days (negative values)
$this->Member->Point->virtualFields['redeemedTotal'] = 'SUM(Point.points)';
$redeemedTotal = $this->Member->Point->find('all', array(
'recursive'=> -1,
'fields' => array('redeemedTotal'),
'conditions'=>array(
'Point.points <'=>0),
'Point.date >' => date('Y-m-d', strtotime("-1 weeks"))
)
);
$this->set('redeemedTotal', $redeemedTotal);

Answer 1

Because all queries use different conditions, it will not be possible to combine them to a single query. This is not a limitation of CakePHP, using regular SQL will not allow you to do so either, unless you're going to use sub queries or some calculated fields (SELECT CASE WHEN points > 0 AND date > .... THEN points ELSE 0 END CASE AS gainedPoint) but this will offer no benefits (performance wise)
Optimizations
To optimise (and clean up) your code, there are some improvements possible;
First of all, to get the value of a single field, you may use Model::field(). This will return just the plain value of a field, not an array containing the value.
For example:
$this->Member->Point->virtualFields['gainedTotal'] = 'SUM(Point.points)';
$gainedTotal = $this->Member->Point->field('gainedTotal', array(
'Point.points >'=>0,
'Point.date >' => date('Y-m-d', strtotime("-1 weeks"))
));
$this->set('gainedTotal', $gainedTotal);
Move data-related code to your model
This is something you should do in general. Move those queries to your Models. This will make your code cleaner and better to maintain. Also, your queries will be easier to re-use and finally, you will be able to Unit-test the queries.
class Point extends AppModel
{
// general stuff/properties here
/**
* Returns the SUM total points gained for
* the last 7 days (positive values)
*
* #return int Gained total for all members
*/
public function gainedTotal()
{
this->virtualFields['gainedTotal'] = 'SUM(points)';
$gainedTotal = $this->field('gainedTotal', array(
'points >'=>0,
'date >' => date('Y-m-d', strtotime("-1 weeks"))
));
// remove the virtualField to prevent it being used
// in subsequent queries
unset($this->virtualFields['gainedTotal']);
return (int)$gainedTotal;
}
}
And, inside your Controller, simply do this:
$this->set('gainedTotal', $this->Member->Point->gainedTotal());
This will clearly reduce the amount of code inside your Controller ('lean controllers, fat models'), which is always good practice.
Add relevant indexes to your database
If performance is important, you can massively improve the performance of these queries by adding the right indexes to your database, especially when calculating totals for a large number of records.
Describing this in detail is beyond the scope of this question, but here are some pointers; How MySQL uses indexes and CREATE INDEX SYNTAX