CakePHP - Lib to handle extra fields and store them on a json object

MetaBehavior.php

<?php 
/**
 * MetaBehavior handles a set of fields like meta information for a given model row
 *
 * @source https://gist.github.com/csrui/6240411
 * @url http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/Models/behaviors.html
 **/
class MetaBehavior extends ModelBehavior {

	public $settings = array();

	private $data = array();
	
	public function setup(Model $Model, $settings = array()) {
	    if (!isset($this->settings[$Model->alias])) {
	        $this->settings[$Model->alias] = array(
	            'prefix' => 'meta',
	            'fields' => array(),
	            'validate' => array()
	        );
	    }
	    $this->settings[$Model->alias] = array_merge(
	        $this->settings[$Model->alias], (array)$settings);
	}

	/**
	 * Handles conversion of virtual lat and lng fields into spatial data field
	 *
	 **/
	public function beforeSave(Model $Model) {
		
		parent::beforeSave($Model);

		$prefix = $this->settings[$Model->alias]['prefix'];

		foreach ($Model->data[$Model->alias] as $field => $value) {

			if (in_array($field, $this->settings[$Model->alias]['fields'])) {

				if (empty($value)) continue;

				$this->data[ $field ] = $value;

			}

		}

		if (!empty($this->data)) {
			$Model->data[$Model->alias]['meta'] = json_encode($this->data);
		}

		return true;
		
	}

	public function afterFind(Model $Model, $results, $primary) {	

		foreach($results as $key => $row) {

			if (empty($row[$Model->alias]['meta'])) continue;

			$results[$key][$Model->alias] = array_merge($row[$Model->alias], json_decode($row[$Model->alias]['meta'], true));

		}

		return $results;

	}

	public function beforeValidate(Model $Model) {

		$Model->validate = array_merge($Model->validate, $this->settings[$Model->alias]['validate']);
		return true;

	}

}