CakePHP 3 - Exclude fields by default in query unless specifically selected - select

Question

Title pretty much says it all. I have some tables with fields that contain a lot of data. To save some performance I would like to not SELECT these by default.
The emphasis on the new default behaviour, differentiating the question from e.g. Select all except one field in cakephp 3 query
Example:
$cities = $this->Cities->find();
// A $city does not include the field `shape` (which is a huge polygon)
$cities = $this->Cities->find(['id', 'name', 'shape']);
// A $city now does include the `shape` property
I looked at the accessible and hidden properties of an entity, but these don't seem to affect the SELECT statement.
EDIT: The selectAllExcept query seems usefull. I combined this with the beforeFilter event like this:
public function beforeFind($event, $query, $options, $primary)
{
$query->selectAllExcept($this, ['shape']);
}
This works well for empty queries, shape is now excluded. But now I have no control over the other fields that might want to include or not:
$this->Cities->find()->select(['id', 'shape']) will then also select the other fields because the selectAllExcept().

Answer 1

You can simple overwrite find('all') method in your table.
For example in UsersTable:
public function findAll(Query $query, array $options)
{
$query->selectAllExcept($this, ['password']);
return $query;
}
then in your controller:
// select all except password
$users = $this->Users->find();
debug($users);
OR
// we try to select some fields, without success
$users = $this->Users->find()->select(['id', 'username', 'password']);
debug($users);
OR
// we try to select some fields incl. password, with success
$users = $this->Users->find()->select(['id', 'username', 'password'], true); // <-- this overwrite select / selectAllExcept in custom finder
debug($users);