Should I use more find in this case? - cakephp

Question

i have two controllers
Sections_controller.php
Articles_controller.php
Section model hasmany Article...
i want to fetch articles In the form of blocks like all news sites..every block have section name with links to the articles within this section..so i use this code......
The First block
$block1=$this->Article->find('all',
array(
'limit' => 4, // just fetch 4 articles
'order' => array('Article.created'=>'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('Section_id' => 87)
)
);
// set the section for the view
$this->set(compact('block1'));
The second block
$block2=$this->Article->find('all',
array(
'limit' => 4, // just fetch 4 articles
'order' => array('Article.created'=>'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('Section_id' => 88)
)
);
// set the section for the view
$this->set(compact('block2'));
and etc....
anyone have the best method in this task without Repetition find code..
notice..i cant pass $id in the function because articles must display when request site index example( www.newssite.com)

Answer 1

Any find(s) should be done in the Model, not the controller - this follows the MVC structure as well as the "fat models, skinny controllers" mantra, which helps keep with the MVC idea.
This is not only the way it "should" be done, but it will also allow you to have the code in just one place:
//in the Article model
function getArticlesBySection($id) {
$articles = $this->find('all', array(
'limit' => 4,
'order' => array('Article.created'=>'DESC'),
'conditions' => array('Section_id' => $id)
));
return $articles;
}
//in the Articles controller
$block1 = $this->Article->getArticlesBySection('87');
$block2 = $this->Article->getArticlesBySection('88');
$this->set(compact('block1', 'block2'));
The above should work just fine for what you want to do, but there is always a lot you can do to improve upon it - like setting it up to be a lot more flexible by accepting an array of options:
//in the Article model
function getArticles($id, $opts = null) {
$params = array();
//limit
$params['limit'] = 100; //catchall if no limit is passed
if(!empty($opts['limit'])) $params['limit'] = $opts['limit'];
//order
$params['order'] = array('Article.created'=>'DESC');
if(!empty($opts['order'])) $params['order'] = $opts['order'];
//conditions
$params['conditions'] = array();
if(!empty($opts['sections'])) array_push($params['conditions'], array('Section_id'=>$opts['sections']));
$articles = $this->find('all', $params);
return $articles;
}
//in the Articles controller
$opts = array('limit'=>4, 'sections'=>array('87'));
$block1 = $this->Article->getArticles($opts);
$opts['sections'] = array('88');
$block2 = $this->Article->getArticles($opts);
I'm sure there are things that can be done to make this more lean...etc, but it's how I like to write it for ease of use and readability, and at least gives you a start on how to think of model methods, and the ability to use and reuse them for different purposes.

Answer 2

You can accomplish this with a straight mysql query, but I'm not sure how you would fit it into a cake model->find function. You can do something like this:
$articles = $this->Article->query("SELECT * FROM articles a WHERE (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM articles b WHERE a.Section_id = b.Section_id AND a.created < b.created) < 4 ORDER BY a.Section_id, a.created DESC");
/* if you look at the results, you should have the 4 latest articles per section.
Now you can loop through and set up an array to filter them by section. Modify to fit your needs */
foreach($articles as $article) {
$results[$article['Article']['Section_id']][] = $article;
}
$this->set('results',$results);