Paginating and sorting data

In the latest Yii releases, the focus was moved from using Active Record directly to grids, lists, and data providers. Still, sometimes it is better to use Active Record directly. Let's see how to list paginated AR records with the ability to sort them.

Getting ready

1. Set up a new application using yiic webapp.

2. Create a database structure table post with id and title as fields, and add 10 to 20 records.

3. Generate the Post model using Gii.

How to do it...

1. First, you need to create protected/controllers/PostController.php:

   class PostController extends Controller
   {
     function actionIndex()
     {
       $criteria = new CDbCriteria();
       $count=Post::model()->count($criteria);
       $pages=new CPagination($count);
   
       // elements per page
       $pages->pageSize=5;
       $pages->applyLimit($criteria);
   
       // sorting
       $sort = new CSort('Post');
       $sort->attributes = array(
          'id',
          'title',
       );
       $sort->applyOrder($criteria);
   
       $models = Post::model...