CakePHP 2.0 Router::connect issue without visible id in url - cakephp

Question

I want following SEO url like:
www.example.com/users/profile/webfacer
I do not want to use the unique user to fetch from database.
I try to use the Router method connect in my AppController. but I realised that it isn't possible (or not knowing it right now to use it in their also used in routes.php does not helped) like this:
//in AppController
Router::connect('/users/profile/:name',
array(
'controller' => 'users',
'action' => 'profile'
) ,
array(
'pass' => array('id', 'name'),
'id' => '[0-9]+'
)
);
How can I reproduce this link (below the example) with this html link helper to send the id but not show it in the url:
$this->Html->link('webfacer',array(
'controller'=>'users',
'action'=>'profile',
'id'=>1,
'name'=>'webfacer'
));
This would output www.example.com/users/profile/username:webfacer that mean my router doesn't appear to my route options.
Has anybody had the same issues and solved this?

Answer 1

Because you haven't put the :id argument in your route string, Cake won't know what to do when you pass it in the helper, that is why it's just appending it as a normal param in the URL. There is no way to pass a "hidden" id with the URL, you're best bet is to either expose it or at the other end of the app write something that fetches the ID based on the username you pass (make sure this column is indexed and url-safe).
I would just simplify your route to this:
//in AppController
Router::connect('/users/profile/:name',
array(
'controller' => 'users',
'action' => 'profile'
) ,
array('pass' => array('name'),
)
);
And don't bother passing ID to the helper. In your profile action you'd just have something like this:
public function profile($name) {
$user = $this->User->find('first', array('conditions' => array('name' => $name)));
}