controller config

gistfile1.txt

 public $components = array(
            'Paginator',
            'RequestHandler',
            'DataTable.DataTable' => array(
                'Employee' => array(
                    'columns' => array(
                    'id' => false, // bSearchable and bSortable will be false
                    'last_name' => array('label' => 'Last Name', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true), // bSearchable and bSortable will be true, with a custom label `Name`
                    'first_name' => array('label' => 'First Name', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true,),
                    'nic_number' => array('label' => 'NIC #', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true),
                    'tax_number' => array('label' => 'Tax Number', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true),
                    'tax_code' => array('label' => 'Tax Code', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true),
                    'active' => array('label' => 'Active', 'bSortable' => true),
                    'department' => array('useField' => false),//array('label' => 'Department', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true),// 
                    'Actions' => array('useField' => false) // tells DataTable that this column is not tied to a field
                    ),                    
                    'contain' => array(
                        'EmploymentData' => array('fields' => array('department_id'), 
                            'Department' => array('fields' => 'name')
                        )
                    ),
                    'recursive' => -1,
                    'joins' => array(
                        array(
                            'table' => 'employment_data',
                            'alias' => 'EmploymentDatum',
                            'type' => 'LEFT',
                            'conditions' => array( 'EmploymentDatum.employee_id = Employee.id')
                        ),
                        array(
                            'table' => 'departments',
                            'alias' => 'Department',
                            'type' => 'LEFT',
                            'conditions' => array( 'Department.id = EmploymentData.department_id')
                        )
                    )
                ),
                'Department' => array(
                    'columns' => array(
                        'name' => array('label' => 'Name', 'bSearchable' => true, 'bSortable' => true), // bSearchable and bSortable will be true, with a custom label `Name`
                    )
                )
            )
        );