Using DISTINCT in a CakePHP find function

Question

I am writing a CakePHP 1.2 app. I have a list of people that I want the user to be able to filter on different fields. For each filterable field, I have a drop down list.

Answer 1

In the example now on the book for version 2 it states the following:

public function some_function() {
    // ...
    $justusernames = $this->Article->User->find('list', array(
        'fields' => array('User.username')
    ));
    $usernameMap = $this->Article->User->find('list', array(
        'fields' => array('User.username', 'User.first_name')
    ));
    $usernameGroups = $this->Article->User->find('list', array(
        'fields' => array('User.username', 'User.first_name', 'User.group')
    ));
    // ...
}

With the above code example, the resultant vars would look something like this:

$justusernames = Array
(
    //[id] => 'username',
    [213] => 'AD7six',
    [25] => '_psychic_',
    [1] => 'PHPNut',
    [2] => 'gwoo',
    [400] => 'jperras',
)

$usernameMap = Array
(
    //[username] => 'firstname',
    ['AD7six'] => 'Andy',
    ['_psychic_'] => 'John',
    ['PHPNut'] => 'Larry',
    ['gwoo'] => 'Gwoo',
    ['jperras'] => 'Joël',
)

$usernameGroups = Array
(
    ['User'] => Array
    (
        ['PHPNut'] => 'Larry',
        ['gwoo'] => 'Gwoo',
    )

    ['Admin'] => Array
    (
        ['_psychic_'] => 'John',
        ['AD7six'] => 'Andy',
        ['jperras'] => 'Joël',
    )

)

You have to plan your query in a slightly different way and plan your database to accommodate a list find.