Question

When I try to add some entries into the join table of two classes, I run into issues with CakePHP.

Here is my join table:

posts_comments

id
post_id
comment_id

my post Model:

<?php

  class Post extends AppModel {
    var $hasManyAndBelongsTo = array('Comment')
  }

?>

My Comment Model:

<?php

  class Commentextends AppModel {

    var $hasAndBelongsToMany = array('Post');

  }

?>

My Controller:

ForumController:

function save() {
    if ($this->data) {
        $this->loadModel('PostComment');
        $this->layout = null;
        debug($this->data);
        $this->PostComment->save($this->data);
    }
    $this->redirect(array('action' => 'view', $this->data['PostComment']['PostId']));
}

And my view.ctp:

<?php 
echo $this->Form->create('PostComment', array('url' => 'save', 'id' => 'save')); ?>
echo $this->Form->hidden('PostComment.PostId', array('value' => $id));
echo $this->Form->input('PostComment.CommentId', array('label' => '', 'type' => 'select', 'multiple' => 'checkbox', 'options' => $CommentName, 'selected' => $CommentId));
echo $this->Form->submit('save', array('id' => 'submit'));
echo $this->Form->end();
?>

When I click on submit, nothing is submitted, and the redirection happens, but the data contained in my $this->data is not save in my BDD.

But what I want is that when I submit my form, I don’t want that CakePHP create a new post or a new comment, I just want a new relation between the two.

I already succeed to done it, but I used

$this->myObject->query("INSERT INTO blablabla")

The problem is that I have a multiple checkboxes, so I don’t really know how I can easily check that one box has been unchecked or checked.

Answer 1

You can work in a simpler way if you create another model with two hasMany relations instead of one with HABTM.

HasAndBelongsToMany between two models is in reality shorthand for
three models associated through both a hasMany and a belongsTo
association.

I found it is one of the simplest ways to save and retrieve data.

For more information: http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/saving-your-data.html#what-to-do-when-habtm-becomes-complicated

At the new model, you could do something like:

public addRecord($userId, $postId)
    $this->data[$this->alias]['user_id'] = $userId;
    $this->data[$this->alias]['post_id'] = $postId;

    return $this->save($this->data[$this->alias]);
}