$this->find not working in cakePHP

I have a model with the name Deal class Deal extends AppModel

Now in my controller I call a method in the Deal model called getDeal(开发者_Python百科)

$dealInfo = Deal::getDeal($dealID);

I want the info returned to me but the var_dump displays blank

function getDeal($dealID){

    $deal = $this->Deal->find('first', array(
                            'conditions' => 
                                'Deal.id' =>$dealID

                            ) ,
                            'fields' => array(
                                'Deal.id'
                            ) ,

                            'recursive' => 1,

                            ));
}

This is the first time I'm working in cakePHP, so this question might sound a bit dumb

When you're just using an id as your find condition you can use CakePHP's dynamic finder methods.

Dynamic finders work like this.

$this->Model->findByModelFieldName();

In your example it would be

$this->findById($dealId, array(
    'fields' => array('Deal.id'),
    'recursive' => 1
));

I don't know if I'm just being mental, but is this simply because you're not returning anything from getDeal()?

Try adding return $deal; and see if that helps. Your question doesn't state exactly where you're doing the var_dump so I might be well off.

Edit:

As per the discussion with you and 8vius, we've established that this isn't right, and you simply need to change $this->Deal->find() to $this->find() because its being run from the model.

Check your function declaration, $deal_id does not exist and as you can see from the parameter you pass to the function which should me $deal_id and not dealID. So you have a misdeclared function calling find with a variable that does not exist.