can i pass data from view to controller?

[eluser]brian88[/eluser]
Thanks. That worked.

How do I output the first solution of yours?

Code:

var_dump($data['posts']); // outputs all the posts then another array under the post with comments
echo $data['posts']->comments; // error - Trying to get property of non-object

Adding in the 2nd soultion....
Now I get this error when using your getPosts function in model.
Message: Trying to get property of non-object
Filename: controllers/main.php
Line Number: 24

controller main

Code:

foreach($data['posts'] as $key => $post) {
    $data['posts'][$key]->comments = $this->main_mod->getComments($post->id); // line 24
   }

model

Code:

function getPosts() {
  $q = $this->db->query("
   select p.*, c.*
   from posts as p
   left join comments as c on (c.postId = p.id)
  ");

  if($q->num_rows() > 0) {
   $results = $q->result();
  }

  $posts = array();
  foreach($results as $post) {
   if( ! array_key_exists($post->id, $posts) ) {
    $posts[$post->id]['post'] = $post; //Collect the posts
   }
   $posts[$post->id]['comments'][]  = $post;
  }

  return $posts;
} // end function

function getComments($postId) {

  $comments = array();
  $this->db->where('postId', $postId);
  if( $q = $this->db->get('comments') ){
   $comments = $q->result();
  }
  return $comments;
} // end function