Sorting in CakePHP with custom routes - sorting

Question

I was trying to find a solution on-line (as always) but came up with nothing obviously.
I'm using CakePHP and I need to add some sorting into some controllers. I would also like to create custom routes for that. So here's my code that is not working (pagination works, sorting nope):
RatesController.php:
public $paginate = array(
'Rate' => array(
'limit' => 10,
'order' => array(
'Rate.created' => 'desc'
),
'conditions' => array( 'Rate.accepted' => 1 ),
//'fields' => array('Rate.*', 'User.username')
),
'Airline' => array(
'limit' => 50,
/*'order' => array(
'Airline.rate' => 'desc',
'Airline.name' => 'asc'
),*/
'conditions' => array(
'Airline.rate >' => 0
),
'fields' => array('Airline.id', 'Airline.name', 'Airline.image_id', 'Airline.rate', 'Image.*')
)
);
function index($category = 'airlines'){
pr($this->request);
$data = $this->paginate('Airline');
pr($data);
}
And in view:
$this->Paginator->options(array(
'url' => array(
'controller' => 'rates',
'action' => 'index',
'category' => $category
)
));
echo $this->Paginator->first('«', array('escape' => false), null, array('class' => 'disabled', 'escape' => false));
echo $this->Paginator->prev('<', array('escape' => false), null, array('class' => 'disabled', 'escape' => false));
echo $this->Paginator->numbers(array(
'modulus' => 6,
'separator' => false
));
echo $this->Paginator->next('>', array('escape' => false), null, array('class' => 'disabled', 'escape' => false));
echo $this->Paginator->last('»', array('escape' => false), null, array('class' => 'disabled', 'escape' => false));
echo' sort by ';
echo $this->Paginator->sort('Airline.rate');
echo' or by ';
echo $this->Paginator->sort('Airline.name');
Routes:
Router::connectNamed(array('page'), array('default' => false, 'greedy' => false));
Router::connectNamed(array('sort', 'direction'), array('default' => false, 'greedy' => false));
Router::connect('/rate-airlines', array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'category' => 'airlines'));
/*
Router::connect(
'/rate-airlines/:page/',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'category' => 'airlines'),
array(
'named' => array('page' => '[a-z]+')
)
);
Router::connect(
'/rate-airlines/:page/:sort/:direction',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'category' => 'airlines'),
array(
'pass' => array('page', 'sort', 'direction'),
//'id' => '[0-9]+',
'named' => array('page' => '[\d]+', 'sort', 'direction')
)
);*/
Router::connect(
'/rate-airlines/:sort/:direction',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'category' => 'airlines'),
array(
'named' => array('sort', 'direction')
)
);
I seriously have no idea why it's not working, I've already spent hours trying to make it work, seeking answers.
Ps. No matter what I did I couldn't manage to put :sort and :direction into named array in request:
CakeRequest Object
(
[params] => Array
(
[plugin] =>
[controller] => rates
[action] => index
[named] => Array
(
)
[pass] => Array
(
)
[sort] => Airline.rate
[direction] => asc
[category] => airlines
[isAjax] =>
)
...
)
Any ideas please?
Mike

Answer 1

You really shouldn’t use route parameters for sorting. It was such a bad idea that CakePHP have dropped them in the forth-coming 3.x release.
Instead, use query string parameters. That’s exactly what they’re for: manipulating a single view. If you have a list, pass parameters like ‘sort’ and ‘direction’ there.
Say you have a URL like http://example.com/rates/?sort=name&direction=asc, you can then parse it in your controller as follows:
<?php
class RatesController extends AppController {
public function index() {
$sort = isset($this->request->query['sort']) ? $this->request->query['sort'] : 'created';
$direction = isset($this->request->query['direction']) ? $this->request->query['direction'] : 'desc';
$this->Paginator->settings = array(
'order' => array($sort => $direction)
);
$rates = $this->paginate('Rate');
$this->set(compact('rates'));
}
}
I also like to go one step further and use query strings for pagination…
<?php
class AppController extends Controller {
public $paginate = array(
'paramType' => 'querystring'
);
}
…But that’s just personal preference.
The above was written during a long day. After thinking about it, CakePHP handles sorting in pagination out of the box. You don’t need to manually specify routes containing the name parameters.
So long as you use the Pagination component and Paginator helper (as you have done), and defined a single route for your controller action, you don’t need to do anything else. In your case, your controller would look like:
<?php
class RatesController extends AppController {
public function index() {
$rates = $this->paginate('Rate');
$this->set(compact('rates'));
}
}
And your view would look like:
<?php echo $this->Paginator->sort('Airline.name'); ?>
If you wanted to rewrite /rates to /rates-airlines, then your single route would look like this:
<?php
Router::connect('/rates-airlines', array(
'controller' => 'rates',
'action' => 'index',
));
With the above, the paginate call will take into account the column to sort by and the direction.
Sorry for the convoluted answer above!

Answer 2

thanks for your replies. The thing is that I really need custom routing for pagination, so I finally managed to achieve what I wanted using following code:
In AppController.php (note that all $this->request->query[...] variables were added just because I also wanted to use sorting interface via forms with GET method)
function beforeFilter() {
if (isset($this->request->params['page'])) {
$this->request->params['named']['page'] = $this->request->params['page'];
}elseif( isset($this->request->query['page']) ){
$this->request->params['named']['page'] = $this->request->query['page'];
}
if (isset($this->request->params['sort'])) {
$this->request->params['named']['sort'] = $this->request->params['sort'];
}elseif (isset($this->request->query['sort'])) {
$this->request->params['named']['sort'] = $this->request->query['sort'];
}
if (isset($this->request->params['direction'])) {
$this->request->params['named']['direction'] = $this->request->params['direction'];
}elseif (isset($this->request->query['direction'])) {
$this->request->params['named']['direction'] = $this->request->query['direction'];
}
in routes.php
Router::connect('/rates-airlines', array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'));
Router::connect(
'/rates-airlines/:page',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'),
array(
'named' => array('page' => '[\d]+')
)
);
Router::connect(
'/rates-airlines/:page/:sort/:direction',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'),
array(
'named' => array('page' => '[\d]+', 'sort', 'direction')
)
);
Router::connect(
'/rates-airlines/:sort/:direction',
array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'),
array(
'named' => array('sort', 'direction')
)
);
Hope someone will find this useful!
Mike

Answer 3

There is an easier way. Just add one more route with '/*':
Router::connect('/rates-airlines', array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'));
Router::connect('/rates-airlines/*', array('controller' => 'rates', 'action' => 'index', 'airlines'));
And all will work correctly.