Zend Db function to get column names

$result = $this->db->query($sql_query);
$result->setFetchMode(Zend_Db::FETCH_NUM);
$metaData = $this->db->describeTable('tableName');
$columnNames = array_keys($metaData);

Zend Framework perform action without the view page

$this->_helper->viewRender->setNoRender()

OR

$this->getHelper('viewRenderer')->setNoRender()

Zend framework select() query with OR condition

$selectQry = $this->db->select()->where('fieldname = ?','value')
->orWhere('fieldname = ?','value);

How to use order and limit in select() query statement

$selectQry = $this->db->select()->from(array('MedA'=>TBL_NAME),array('answer_id','didTake','dateRecorded'))
->join(array('Med'=>TBL_NAME),
'Med.medication_id = MedA.medication_id',
array('nick_name'))
->where('MedA.is_deleted = ?',0)
->where('MedA.medication_id = ?',$medId)
->where('MedA.time_slot_id = ?',$timeSlotId)
->where('MedA.user_id = ?',$idValue)
->order('MedA.dateRecorded DESC');

if(!empty($limit))
$selectQry->limit($offset,$limit)

Zend Framework select query example with join

$this->db->select()->from(array('T1'=>'TBL_1'),array('table1_id'))
->join(array('T2'=>'TBL_2'),
'T1.site_id = T2.site_id',
array('GROUP_CONCAT( T2.name) as site_name'))
->where('T1.table1_id = ?',mysql_escape_string($tableId))

How to set view file in the controller

We can use the same view file for different actions by using the view render helper.
If we want to use the same view file for Add and Edit pages, Create a view file for Add and use the below code in the Edit action function
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setRender('add');

How to change the default Index controller in Zend Framework

Add the following code in the bootstrap init function
$frontController = $this->getResource('FrontController');
$frontController->setDefaultControllerName('controllerName');

How to get last Insert Id in Zend Framework

If we want to get the last insert id in the Model we can use the command like this
$this->getAdapter()->lastInsertId();
Or we if we have the object of the db adapater, we can use the below code.
$db = Zend_Db_Table_Abstract::getDefaultAdapter();
$db->lastInsertId()