Tim Koschützki, on his debuggable blog , has posted a tutorial explaining how to get the find() method in the CakePHP framework's models to your needs. Tim illustrates an example of the end result - a find() call with a custom type that automatically gets translated correctly. He overrides and enhances the usual find call in an extended object that uses a switch/case statement to define the custom types and their find() search calls.

“Those of your who are familiar with the find() method know that there are currently four types in the core: 'list', 'all', 'first' and 'count'. However, sometimes it is nice to specify your own type so you can have a call like this: $this->Comment->find('pending');,” writes Tim in his blog.