custom query with propel symfony 2

Question

This is my first time using symfony 2. For database integration i am thinking of using propel as I doctrine and annotations seems really difficult for me. But it seems to me that to make a query you have to use propels own functions. I have used codeigniter. In codeigniter I used to send query string and it used to send me data. Is there something similar in propel symfony 2? Like -

$query = 'select * from table where column1 natural join column2';
$this->db->query($query);

Answer 1

You should look at docs of sf2:
http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/propel.html

If you want to use raw SQL:

$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityManager();
$connection = $em->getConnection();
$statement = $connection->prepare("SELECT something FROM somethingelse");
$statement->execute();
$results = $statement->fetchAll();

Or "propel way":

$connection = Propel::getConnection();
$query = 'SELECT MAX(?) AS max FROM ?';
$statement = $connection->prepareStatement($query);
$statement->setString(1, ArticlePeer::CREATED_AT);
$statement->setString(2, ArticlePeer::TABLE_NAME);
$resultset = $statement->executeQuery();
$resultset->next();
$max = $resultset->getInt('max');