CakePHP does not support MySQL's Enum fields types. I've commed around 3 solutions to conturn this problem:

• using a second table
• using MySQL's Enum and retrieve EnumValues like in Baked Enums

This behavior is using an other approach, it stores the configuration in an array which is fast and flexible. It also creates validation rules and the select lists.

Simply put the enum folder and its content in your app/plugins folder.

Let's assume we have a posts table and we want to have a status field that could have 3 possible values (draft, published, archive).

Table data :

id			int(10)
title		varchar(65)
content		varchar(65)
status		varchar(65)

In your Post model :

$actsAs = array(
	'Enum.Enum' => array(
		'status' => array('draft', 'published', 'archive')
	)
);

In your Posts controller, at the end of add and edit actions :

$this->set($this->Enum->enumValues());

Anywhere in your application:

__('draft', true);
__('published', true);
__('archive', true);