You could just just change the query but you need: ROOT/administrator/components/com_yourcomponentname/models/modelname.php
Check here:
www.j-cook.pro/forum/9-coding-inside-you...tering-in-items#4500 for which query to add a case statement to.
Publishing is simple (inside cook)... Once you have a published field on your table (using wizards > publishing) you can simply add a filter (combo type) to the filters part of your admin list (grid view) then drag your field to the filter. There is a slight bug with this at the moment though if I remember correctly... Maybe not the way to go for you ATM.
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Brainwave... What kind of field are you using for status? An enum field? or is it a foreign key?
You can filter on those in the grid view easily as described above for filtering published... Except, there is no bug there, it is working perfectly.
Gez