CodeIgniter: Problem with variable sent to model - variables

Question

I'm inheriting someone else's project and I am trying to familiarize myself with it. I have little experience with CI.
On one of the views there's is a drop down form, on change calls a JS function:
$(document).ready(function()
{
// admin contorller drop down ajax
$("#catagoryDropDownList").change(function()
{
getCatagoriesItems();
});
// initiate table sort
TableSorter.prepareTable($("#dataResultsTable"));
});
// ajax request triggered by catagory drop down menu selection
function getCatagoriesItems()
{
blockPage();
// get base url of current site
var baseurl = $("#site_url_for_ajax").val();
// get adminType
var adminType = $("#admin_type").val();
// get catagory id
var catId = $("#catagoryDropDownList option:selected").attr("id");
var queryString = baseurl + "home/ajaxCatagorySelection/" + catId + "/" + adminType;
$.get(queryString, function(data)
{
var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(data);
// dump data into table when request is successful
$("#dataResultsTable tbody").html(JSONParser.parseHomeDropDownSelectedJSON(obj));
// unblock page when done
$.unblockUI();
});
}
I've logged the two values, catID and adminType, they're both integers, catID will be between 1-10 and adminType = 1. There both references to int values in a database. catID is referencing a field titled 'categoryID'. catID 6 = all. None of the entries in the db have 6 as their value, thus ensuring if you filtered for not equaling 6 you'd get all. They get passed to a function called ajaxCatagorySelection in the controller file home.php. So far, so good. Here's that function:
public function ajaxCatagorySelection($tableName, $id)
{
$vars = new DatabaseRetriever($id);
$resultsArray = $vars->getDataForSpecifiedTable($tableName, $id);
echo json_encode($resultsArray);
}
and that function itself is referencing a model (database_retriever.php) and the class DatabaseRetriever and I'm assuming passing the variables along to the function getDataForSpecifiedTable. I say assuming because the variable names have changed significantly from catID to $tableName and adminType to $id. Here is getDataForSpecifiedTable:
public function getDataForSpecifiedTable($catagoryInfo, $databaseID)
{
// connect to database
$sql = $this->connect($databaseID);
if ($catagoryInfo != 6) {
// build SQL Query and query the database
$result = $sql->query("SELECT fileId, fileTitle, filePath, fileTypeExt, fileDescription, fileModed from admin_files where catagoryId = '" . $catagoryInfo . "' and adminId = '" . $databaseID . "'");
} else {
$result = $sql->query("SELECT fileId, fileTitle, filePath, fileTypeExt, fileDescription, fileModed from admin_files where catagoryId = '" . $catagoryInfo . "' and adminId = '" . $databaseID . "'");
}
// declare array
$items = array();
// retriever rows from database and build array
while ($row = $result->fetch_row())
{
array_push($items, $row);
}
// disconnect from database
$this->disconnect();
// return data in array
return $items;
}
the variable names have changed again but you can tell they are suppose to do what I wrote above by looking at the query. Here's the problem. I added the conditional "if ($catagoryInfo != 6)...", if I don't put the else in there then CI throws out warning errors that no data is being returned. I return $categoryInfo and in the FireBug console I get the correct integer. I've tried the conditional as an integer and a string with both failing. Any ideas what might be happening here?

Answer 1

If database_retriever.php is a model, you should call it like so:
$this->load->model('database_retriever');
$resultsArray = $this->Database_retriever->getDataForSpecifiedTable($tableName, $id);
Also, make sure your model extends Model (or extends CI_Model in CodeIgniter 2).
NOTE: $.getJSON, will auto-parse JSON for you, so you don't need to call parseJSON.