I need to read a random record from the database, how to write
$model = new articles(); $model::findFirst(array('order'="??????????") );
One way,especially if the table is fairly small, you can order by RAND(). But the way you initiated the modal the second line would be: $model->findFirst(array('order' => 'RAND()'));
Another method for larger data would be to find max id, if you have auto increase integer id, then select a random number using PHP function.