Q:

Performing raw SQL queries in Yii2?

I have written the below queries as I migrate my PHP website to the Yii2 framework. I want to add them to my controller so as to display the top 10 bets won.  I have tried going through many Yii2 database classes but I cannot get it to work.
My tables are:
users:
id | user_name | user_status | ...other columns...

bets:
id | user_id | date_time |...other columns...| balance_return

The queries I want to get in Yii2 are:
$query_all = $dbh->query("
    SELECT SUM(bets.balance_return) AS total_win
         , bets.user_id
         , users.user_name
         , users.user_status
      FROM bets INNER JOIN users ON bets.user_id = users.id
     WHERE users.user_status = 'verified'
       AND bets.date_time > " . $start_date . "
  GROUP BY bets.user_id
  ORDER BY total_win DESC
");

The variable start_date is a period of 6 months which I calculate according to time() Also please note that balance_return is every win a user got so its sum determines the ranking.
The second query is:
$qwi = $dbh->query("
    SELECT SUM(bets.balance_return) AS total_win
         , bets.user_id
         , users.user_name
         , users.user_status
      FROM bets INNER JOIN users ON bets.user_id = users.id
     WHERE users.user_status = 'verified'
       AND bets.date_time > " . $start_date . "
  GROUP BY bets.user_id
  ORDER BY total_win DESC LIMIT 0,10
");

A:

You can execute raw sql like this
$connection = Yii::$app->getDb();
$command = $connection->createCommand("
    SELECT SUM(bets.balance_return) AS total_win
     , bets.user_id
     , users.user_name
     , users.user_status
    FROM bets INNER JOIN users ON bets.user_id = users.id
    WHERE users.user_status = 'verified'
    AND bets.date_time > :start_date
    GROUP BY bets.user_id
    ORDER BY total_win DESC", [':start_date' => '1970-01-01']);

$result = $command->queryAll();

I recommend reading: http://www.yiiframework.com/doc-2.0/yii-db-connection.html#createCommand()-detail 
The first parameter is the sql (with placeholder(s)) and the second part is an array of values to be used with the placeholders.

