View works like a table, but it is not a table. It never exists; it is only a prepared SQL statement that is run when you reference the view name. A programmer can write VIEWs that limit the dataset both horizontally and vertically, ensuring that only the data that is required is queried for. Recently I Had to implement a search option for one of my developed site. The requirement was to show typeahed results from 5 tables. I used jQuery Ui – Autocomplete‘s Remote with caching to fullfil this requirement. My ajax call back result must fast enough as user writes on the textbox and result is showing. So for my first query return I used MySql View. Then start I firedup my Cake Bake. When I go to model creation i dont see my view’s name. I thought I have made some mistake – So I start looking into my view creation sql, my database configuration. But all seems ok. Then I clear cache by deleting app/tmp/cahe/models/. Yet no luck. Then I start poking around codes on cake folder. Then i found what I have been dreading.
On cake/libs/model/datasources/datasource.php line 613
function listSources() {
$cache = parent::listSources();
if ($cache != null) {
return $cache;
}
$result = $this->_execute('SHOW TABLES FROM ' . $this->name($this->config['database']) . ';');
if (!$result) {
return array();
} else {
$tables = array();
while ($line = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
$tables[] = $line[0];
}
parent::listSources($tables);
return $tables;
}
}
So CakePHP does not support MySql view!? No it does. But views are not available for Bake 
. Anyway you have create model, controller and view files old fashioned manually.
So my view sql is
CREATE VIEW searches AS select videos.id AS id,videos.video_title AS Name,'videos' AS TYPE from videos union select users.id AS id,concat(users.first_name,' ',users.last_name) AS Name, 'users' AS TYPE from users union select tag_sub_categories.id AS id,tag_sub_categories.name AS name,'tag_sub_categories' AS TYPE from tag_sub_categories union select shows.id AS id,shows.title AS title,'shows' AS TYPE from shows union select announcements.id AS id,announcements.title AS title,'announcements' AS TYPE from announcements;
Mysql UNION is used to combine the result from multiple SELECT statements into a single result set. UNION is quite handy as you can see I can have all the values from different table in one result set. I also used a virtual field TYPE for tracking were the values from.
Bow create a file app/models/search.php and add the following code
class Search extends AppModel {
var $name = 'Search';
var $useTable = 'searches';
var $primaryKey = 'id';
var $useDbConfig = 'default';
}
You have to use $primaryKey otherwise when you to use find(‘list’) as described Here.
Now lets create out controller file app/controllers/searches_controller.php
class SearchesController extends AppController {
var $name = 'Searches';
var $paginate = array(
'limit' => 10,
);
function search_json() {
$search_keyword=$this->params['url']['term'];
$results = $this->Search->find('all',array(
'conditions'=>array('Name LIKE '=> "{$search_keyword}%"),
'limit'=>8
));
$return_array=array();
foreach ($results as $result):
$temp['id']=$result['Search']['id'];
$temp['label']= (strlen($result['Search']['Name']) > 30)? substr($result['Search']['Name'], 0, 30). '...' : $result['Search']['Name'];
$temp['value']=$result['Search']['Name'];
$return_array[]=$temp;
endforeach;
echo json_encode($return_array);
exit;
}
}
For our search function
<script>
$(function(){
$.ui.autocomplete.prototype._renderItem = function( ul, item){
var term = this.term.split(' ').join('|');
var re = new RegExp("(" + term + ")", "gi") ;
var t = item.label.replace(re,"<strong>$1</strong>");
return $( "<li></li>" )
.data( "item.autocomplete", item )
.append( "<a >" + t + "</a>" )
.appendTo( ul );
};
var cache = {},
lastXhr;
$( "#search_ahead" ).autocomplete({
minLength: 2,
source: function( request, response ) {
var term = request.term;
if ( term in cache ) {
response( cache[ term ] );
return;
}
lastXhr = $.getJSON( "<?php echo $html->url(array("controller" => "searches", "action" => "search_json"));?>", request, function( data, status, xhr ) {
cache[ term ] = data;
if ( xhr === lastXhr ) {
response( data );
}
});
}
});
});
</script>
<?php echo $this->Form->create(null, array('url'=>"/searches/show_results.html", 'type'=>"file", 'id'=>'change_status', 'inputDefaults' => array('label' => false,'div' => false)));?>
<table width="230" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr>
<td width="170"><input name="search_ahead" id="search_ahead" type="text" class="input-box2" style="width:160px; height:22px;" value="" /></td>
<td width="60"><?php echo $this->Form->end('/css/images/frequency-search.gif');?></td>
</tr>
</table>
<?php ?>
This function also highlight the search text on the result text.
. $(‘body’).delegate(‘#click_me’, ‘click’, function (event){ means when any one click the element which id is click_me then the code snippet will run. 
