cakephp find('list') multiple columns for select box

Question

Im new to Cake PHP and this forum. This is my question. I just want to create a select box using cake PHP. Data is coming from database table. My Customers table looks like this : ``` id | first_name | last_name -------------------------------- 1 | John | Doe -------------------------------- 1 | Sam | Doe ``` I just tried to get the data using this method ``` $this->set('customers', $this->Customer->find('list', array( 'fields' => array('Customer.id', 'Customer.first_name') ))); ``` View code : ``` echo $this->Form->input('customers'); ``` This create a select box just like this: ``` ``` My question is how do I display first name & last name in select box just like below. ``` ``` Much appreciate your answers! Thanks

Accepted Answer

You can use virtual fields

The model would have

```
public $virtualFields = array(
    'full_name' => 'CONCAT(Customer.first_name, " ", Customer.last_name)'
);
```

Then you can use it in the `find` call:

```
$this->set('customers', $this->Customer->find('list', array(
    'fields' => array('Customer.id', 'Customer.full_name')
)));
```

cakephp find('list') multiple columns for select box

Solution

Problem