How do I create a Lithium - form->select from controller output

Question

I want to create a dropdown for types collection from MongoDB, in my MongoDB collection:

section has types and controller code with view code. I want to create a form->select from the output of the controller.

    types
    {
      "_id": ObjectId("5082c6109d5d0c640c000000"),
      "name": "JACKET CLUSTER FRONT"
    }
    {
      "_id": ObjectId("5082c62b9d5d0c440c00006e"),
      "name": "JACKET CLUSTER FRONT"
    }
    {
      "_id": ObjectId("5082c62b9d5d0c440c00006f"),
      "name": "TITLE WITHOUT SYMBOL"
    }
    {
      "_id": ObjectId("5082c62b9d5d0c440c000070"),
      "name": "FRONTISPIECE"
    }
*/

// in my controller
// -----------
    $types = Types::all(array('order'=>'_id'));
    $vtype = array($types)
    return compact('vtypes');

// in my view
// ------------------
    echo $this->form->select('types',$vtypes);

Answer 1

find('list') returns a key/value array, useful for any use where you would want a list such as for populating input select boxes.

$types = Types::find('list')

//returns
Array
(
[5082c6109d5d0c640c000000] => 'JACKET CLUSTER FRONT',
[5082c62b9d5d0c440c00006e] => 'JACKET CLUSTER FRONT',
[5082c62b9d5d0c440c00006f] => 'TITLE WITHOUT SYMBOL',
...
)

This finder looks for $_meta['title'] of your model, which is by default name if this field is available, and $_meta['key'] for the id, which should be _id in your case if your schema is correct