find('first') within a Model custom validate rule - validation

Question

I want to validate a field to be within a range of numbers dependant on another field selection.
eg.
'rating' => array(
'within class range' => array(
'rule' => 'withinClassRange',
'message' => 'number not in range'
)
),
and withinClassRange
public function withinClassRange($data) {
// get class range
$classRange = $this->Edition->Aclass->find('first', array('conditions' => array('Aclass.id' => $this->data['Edition']['aclass_id'])));
if($data['rating'] < $classRange->minRange) {
return false;
}
if($data['rating'] > $classRange->maxRange) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
but this find is only do-able within the controller. How do I implement this?

Answer 1

You shouldn't really assign data to the request object. Either assign the request object to another array such as $data and do your updates there or find a way to pass the range to your validation function.
Also, the find statement from your question would return an array, not an object. So your syntax isn't valid there. That's probably the cause of your original problem.
Something like this should work:
public function withinClassRange($data) {
// get class range
$classRange = $this->Edition->Aclass->find('first', array('conditions' => array('Aclass.id' => $this->data['Edition']['aclass_id'])));
if($data['rating'] > $classRange['Aclass']['minRange'] && $data['rating'] < $classRange['Aclass']['maxRange']) {
return true;
}
return false;
}

Answer 2

I got it!
What I did was retrieve the data and set the range limits as extra vars in the request object in the Controller just before the 'save' call. Then the comparison can be done in the Model.
//controller
$classRange = $this->Edition->Aclass->find('first', array('conditions' => array('Aclass.id' => $this->request->data['Edition']['aclass_id'])));
$this->request->data['Edition']['minRange'] = $classRange['Aclass']['minRange'];
$this->request->data['Edition']['maxRange'] = $classRange['Aclass']['maxRange'];
//model
public function withinClassRange($data) {
if($data['rating'] < $this->data['Edition']['minRange']) {
return false;
}
if($data['rating'] > $this->data['Edition']['maxRange']) {
return false;
}
return true;
}