Using CakePHP Virtual Fields on the Fly

CakePHP virtualFields are awesome. Here is an example of using them on the fly. This code returns an value label pair for a Cake Form Helper Select List. function getBudgetItemSelectionList(){ $this->virtualFields['select_list_value'] = 'CONCAT(BudgetItem.name,if(BudgetCategory.income = 1," (Income)",""))'; return $this->find('list',array( 'fields'=>array('BudgetItem.id','BudgetItem.select_list_value','Budget.name'), 'order'=>'BudgetItem.name ASC', 'recursive'=>0, 'conditions'=>array('Budget.state_id'=>'0') )); }