I have a custom model and resource model. I want to load a single instance of the model using more than 1 field.

The model has the following fields:

```
id
tag_name
custom_name
group_name

```

I want to load this model based on on tag\_name, custom\_name and group\_name instead of id.

Currently i am using a collection and addFilter for each field. This works, but i wondered if there is a standard strategy for this type of thing in Magento?

**EDIT**

Core magento seems not to use collections for this scenario but instead it uses direct sql queries in the resource models.

an example of this is:

`loadByAccountAndDate()` in `Mage_Paypal_Model_Resource_Report_Settlement`

Is there a reason for this, when collections seem to be a more concise way, in terms of amount of code to be written

I just dont know why magento chooses to do it this way