Creating optgroup in play framework from a query result - playframework-1.x

Question

If for example i have the following data retreived from a database:
--------------------------
| id | name | department|
--------------------------
| 1 | john | HR |
--------------------------
| 2 | peter| accounting|
--------------------------
| 3 | adam | secretary |
--------------------------
how can i create an optgroup tag to display this result in an optgroup to have the following:
<select >
<optgroup label='HR'>
<option value='1'>john</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label='accounting'>
<option value='2'>peter</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label='secretary'>
<option value='3'>adam</option>
</optgroup>
</select>

Answer 1

This may not be the best way, but you could represent department as a model and do it this way :
User model :
public class User extends Model {
public String name;
#ManyToOne
public Department department;
}
Department model :
public class Department extends Model {
public String name;
public List<User> getUsers() {
List<User> users = new Arraylist<User>();
if (this.id != null) {
users = User.find("department.id is ?", this.id).fetch();
}
return users;
}
}
Then in your view you can generate your select box list this way
<select>
#{list departments, as : 'department'}
<optgroup label="${department.name}"">
#{list department.users, as : 'user'}
<option value="${user.id}">${user.name}</option>
#{/list}
</optgroup>
#{/list}
</select>
Like I said, perhaps there is a better way, (maybe using raw sql queries...)