How to use field value in query (as a string)

[foxroberts]

Hi!

My fields: id, order
id contains just a integer.
order contains "1,3,4,2" for example.

I want to order my results using FIELD().
Example (works fine): ORDER BY FIELD (id,1,2,3,4)

Now I want to use the value of the field ORDER within the query:
Example: ORDER BY FIELD (id, order)
I hope to get ORDER BY FIELD (id,1,3,4,2).

How can I transform the value of orderto work within my query?

Thanks in advance!
Fox

[bradgrafelman]

To be honest, I'm not sure if you will be able to do that (at least not easily).

Can you explain why you appear to be violating basic DB normalization techniques and storing multiple values in a single column?

[foxroberts]

It was just a simplified example. The original thing is a CakePHP database query, which I try to explain in easy steps.

There are three tables (categories, products and categoriesProducts to connect the first two). The order of the products is stored in each category, because each product can be listed in several categories.

Of course I could use a fourth table to store the order. I thought there would be a simple solution for my problem. Thank you anyway!