Question

I have tables: categories HABTM sculptures hasMany images

from the CategoriesController#find() produces an array like so:

array(
    'Category' => array(
        'id' => '3',
        'name' => 'Modern',
    ),
    'Sculpture' => array(
        (int) 0 => array(
            'id' => '25',
            'name' => 'Ami',
            'material' => 'Bronze',
            'CategoriesSculpture' => array(
                'id' => '18',
                'category_id' => '3',
                'sculpture_id' => '25'
            )
        ),
         (int) 1 => array(
                'id' => '26',
                'name' => 'Charis',
                'material' => 'Bronze',
                'CategoriesSculpture' => array(
                    'id' => '19',
                    'category_id' => '3',
                    'sculpture_id' => '26'
                )
            )
    )
)

I’d like to be able to get the images related to sculpture in the array as well if this is possible?

Answer 1

Use CakePHP’s Containable Behavior. After reading about it and following the instructions, your find should look something like this:

$this->Category->find('all', array(
    'contain' => array(
        'Sculpture' => array(
            'Image'
        )
    )
));

In your Category model, you need:

public $actsAs = array('Containable');
public $recursive = -1; //can set this in many places, but it must be -1 for the Containable find to work.