Let's log an issue there—I think that's a good addition to the engine. I can help do that, too. 

On Jan 12, 2013, at 11:51 AM, Andrew Podner <notifications@github.com> wrote:

> In en/models/using-an-entity.wiki:
> 
> > +
> > +<a id="opts"></a>
> > +
> > +## Setting Default Query Options
> > +#### ModelName::query([$options])
> > +Lithium allows you to get/set default options and conditions for queries that are executed for a model if no query-specific options are set.  This is done by passing an associative array to the $options parameter.  If you do not set an `$options` parameter, the method will return the currently set query options in an array.
> > +The settable elements are:
> > +
> > +* **conditions**: associative array of where conditions. Example: `'conditions' => array('status' => 'draft')`
> > +* **fields**: Fields to be retrieved. Example: `'fields' => array('title','slug','id')`
> > +* **order**: specify how the records are to be ordered. Example: `'order' => array('date_created' => 'DESC')`
> > +* **limit**: Number of records to return. Example:  `'limit' => 10`
> > +* **page**: For pagination of data (limit * offset)
> > +* **with**: array of relationship names to include in the query
> > +
> > +**SHORTCUT - SET PROPERTY DIRECTLY:** _You can optionally just set the protected `$_query` property directly in the definition of your model's class._
> my preferred method would be to use a block quote for tips, hints, and cautions, but this would require a change in the li3_docs CSS, as block quote font is very large at present.
> 
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