SQL query to cakePHP format (invalid json result) - sql

Question

Hello I have a PostgreSQL query that I would like to write using cakePHP format
SELECT
id,
title,
author,
postdate,
postcontent,
userID
FROM posts
WHERE
userID = 12
AND id IN (SELECT articleID FROM favourites WHERE articlesUserID = 12)
ORDER BY postdate DESC;
this is the format my query has right now in cakePHP :
$favouritearticles = $this->Favourite->query('SELECT id, title, author, postdate, postdatecreation, posteditdate, postcontent, "userID" FROM posts WHERE "userID" = '.$userID.'AND id IN (SELECT lngblogarticleid FROM favourites WHERE lngloginuserid = '.$userID.') ORDER BY postdate DESC');
It's working but if echo json_encode the result like this :
echo json_encode($favouritearticles);
I get an invalid json format like the following :(checked with JSONLint)
[
[
{
"id": 2,
"title": "Prison Or Treatment For the Mentally ill ",
"author": "mike123",
"postdate": "March 12, 2013 at 6:46 pm",
"postdatecreation": "2013-03-12",
"posteditdate": null,
"postcontent": "<p><span>The public revulsion over repeated mass shootings has placed mental health in the spotlight. This is both good and bad.<\/span><\/p>",
"userID": 34
}
]
][
]
So I thought that maybe I should rewrite my query using cakePHP format "using find method" something like :
$favouritearticles = $this->Favourite->find('all',array('conditions'=>array(".........
however the query is quite complex and I don't see how to do so.
Thank you for any help.

Answer 1

Format of JSON is fine except for extra [ ] at the end.
If you still want to rewrite the query in CakePHP format, use following:
private function getFavouritePostsByUserId($userId) {
$db = $this->Post->getDataSource();
$subQuery = $db->buildStatement(
array(
'fields' => array('Favourite.articleID'),
'table' => $db->fullTableName($this->Favourite),
'alias' => 'Favourite',
'conditions' => array(
'Favourite.articlesUserID' => $userId
),
),
$this->Favourite
);
$subQuery = 'Post.id IN (' . $subQuery . ') ';
$subQueryExpression = $db->expression($subQuery);
$conditions = array($subQueryExpression, 'Post.userID' => $userId);
$fields = array('Post.*');
$order = 'Post.postdate DESC';
$this->Post->find('all', compact('conditions', 'fields', 'order'));
}