CakePHP is losing search parameters when using pagination SOLVED

The problem

Imagine we have a custom form to search for purchases done between two dates; so we have a simple action in a controller that takes the start and end date and create a set of conditions for the paginate() method, but… for some reason once we click on next page we are loosing the conditions to make the search.

The solution

A simple solution for saving the search parameters is just to store them in a session variable; following next algorithm:

	// START: We check if the conditions for search already exist
	$this->conditions = array();
	if($this->Session->check('conditions')){
        $this->conditions = $this->Session->read('conditions');
	}
	// END: Check

    // Normal POST request  
	if ($this->request->is('post')) {
		$data = $this->request->data;

		// We get the search parameters
		$fromDate = $data['Purchase']['FromDate'];
		$toDate = $data['Purchase']['ToDate'];

        // We create our conditions (this syntax can be improved)
		$conditions = "Purchase.date_delivered >= " 
                        . "'" . $fromDate . "'" 
                        . " AND Purchase.date_delivered <= " . "'" . $toDate . "'";

        // Passing conditions to a property
		$this->conditions = array ($conditions);


        // START: Saving conditions in a session variable
		$this->Session->write('conditions',$this->conditions);
		// END: Saving
		
        // Doing the normal pagination stuff
        $this->paginate['conditions'] = $this->conditions;
        $purchases = $this->paginate();
        $this->set('purchases',$purchases);

	else { // Pagination request (GET)
		$this->Purchase->recursive = 0;
		$this->paginate['conditions'] = $this->conditions; // We use the conditions stored previously
		// Doing the normal pagination stuff
        $purchases = $this->paginate();
        $this->set('purchases',$purchases);
	}

And that’s it! Now you have your search parameters working with pagination.

Enjoy!