Question: By default, `populateState` seems to limit a call to any model's `get('Items')` function to 20 items.

How can this be overridden - by re-writing `populateState`? By writing a separate function in the model? I've gone for the second option...

```
public function getAll(){
    return $this->_getList($this->getListQuery());
}

```

which works, but I think there's a more Joomla-ish way of doing this - I just can't find it.

Answer: 
To answer the question in the title about "setting" the limit, this is done in the Joomla global configuration: "Default List Limit".

To override, Joomla components generally seem to use this in the model:
Using `$limit = 0` shows all items

```
protected function populateState($ordering = null, $direction = null)
{
    // set limit
    $this->setState('list.limit', $limit);
    // set start (eg. what record to begin pagination at)
    $this->setState('list.start', $value);
}

```
Like others have said - put this in the model's populateState function

```
$this->setState('list.limit', $limit); #limit=0 removes limit
$this->setState('list.start', $start);

```

But you must make sure that these lines are AFTER 

```
parent::populateState($order, $dir);

```

or the parent class will override your values