CakePHP 2.x get data from HABTM table - php

Question

I have 3 models in my CakePHP application that are linked with a HABTM association following the CakePHP naming conventions: posts - post_tag_links - tags
In my front-end postController.php file, I want to get query all the posts with their related tags. With my query, I can get the information out of the Post en the PostTagLink model, but I don't now how I can reach the info of the Tag model so I can get the tag titles and the tag slugs. Here's my attempt:
$this->Post->virtualFields = array(
'date_published' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%d/%m/%Y")',
'time_published' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%ku%i")',
'day' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%d")',
'month' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%m")',
'year' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%Y")',
'hours' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%k")',
'minutes' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%i")'
);
$this->Paginator->settings = array(
'fields' => array(
'Post.id',
'Post.title',
'Post.content',
'Post.published',
'Post.slug',
'Post.date_published',
'Post.time_published',
'Post.day',
'Post.month',
'Post.year'
),
'conditions' => array(
'Post.published <' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
'Post.show' => 'Y',
'Post.deleted' => null
),
'order' => array(
'Post.published' => 'DESC',
'Post.id' => 'DESC',
),
'limit' => 10
);
$posts = $this->Paginator->paginate(
'Post'
);
The output from this code is close but not close enough:
array(
(int) 0 => array(
'Post' => array(
'id' => '1',
'title' => 'Eerste post',
'content' => 'Content 1',
'published' => '2016-03-16 18:56:00',
'slug' => 'eerste-post',
'date_published' => '16/03/2016',
'time_published' => '18u56',
'day' => '16',
'month' => '03',
'year' => '2016'
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
(int) 0 => array(
'id' => '30',
'post_id' => '1',
'tag_id' => '1',
'created' => '2016-03-05 14:05:48',
'modified' => '2016-03-05 14:05:48',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 1 => array(
'id' => '31',
'post_id' => '1',
'tag_id' => '3',
'created' => '2016-03-05 15:10:53',
'modified' => '2016-03-05 15:10:53',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 2 => array(
'id' => '32',
'post_id' => '1',
'tag_id' => '2',
'created' => '2016-03-05 15:10:53',
'modified' => '2016-03-05 15:10:53',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 3 => array(
'id' => '36',
'post_id' => '1',
'tag_id' => '5',
'created' => '2016-03-20 01:59:41',
'modified' => '2016-03-20 01:59:41',
'deleted' => null
)
)
),
(int) 1 => array(
'Post' => array(
'id' => '2',
'title' => 'Tweede post',
'content' => 'Content 2',
'published' => '2016-02-29 18:59:00',
'slug' => 'tweede-post',
'date_published' => '29/02/2016',
'time_published' => '18u59',
'day' => '29',
'month' => '02',
'year' => '2016'
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
(int) 0 => array(
'id' => '37',
'post_id' => '2',
'tag_id' => '6',
'created' => '2016-03-20 01:59:56',
'modified' => '2016-03-20 01:59:56',
'deleted' => null
)
)
),
(int) 2 => array(
'Post' => array(
'id' => '3',
'title' => 'Derde post',
'content' => 'Content 3',
'published' => '2016-01-22 19:00:00',
'slug' => 'derde-post',
'date_published' => '22/01/2016',
'time_published' => '19u00',
'day' => '22',
'month' => '01',
'year' => '2016'
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
(int) 0 => array(
'id' => '26',
'post_id' => '3',
'tag_id' => '4',
'created' => '2016-01-23 14:12:52',
'modified' => '2016-01-23 14:12:52',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 1 => array(
'id' => '34',
'post_id' => '3',
'tag_id' => '1',
'created' => '2016-03-09 22:24:33',
'modified' => '2016-03-09 22:24:33',
'deleted' => null
)
)
),
(int) 3 => array(
'Post' => array(
'id' => '4',
'title' => 'Vierde post',
'content' => 'Content 4',
'published' => '2016-01-11 19:00:00',
'slug' => 'vierde-post',
'date_published' => '11/01/2016',
'time_published' => '19u00',
'day' => '11',
'month' => '01',
'year' => '2016'
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
(int) 0 => array(
'id' => '33',
'post_id' => '4',
'tag_id' => '1',
'created' => '2016-03-09 22:24:25',
'modified' => '2016-03-09 22:24:25',
'deleted' => null
)
)
),
(int) 4 => array(
'Post' => array(
'id' => '5',
'title' => 'Vijfde post',
'content' => 'Content 5',
'published' => '2015-05-23 09:54:00',
'slug' => 'vijfde-post',
'date_published' => '23/05/2015',
'time_published' => '9u54',
'day' => '23',
'month' => '05',
'year' => '2015'
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
(int) 0 => array(
'id' => '25',
'post_id' => '5',
'tag_id' => '2',
'created' => '2016-01-23 14:11:22',
'modified' => '2016-01-23 14:11:22',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 1 => array(
'id' => '27',
'post_id' => '5',
'tag_id' => '4',
'created' => '2016-01-23 14:14:11',
'modified' => '2016-01-23 14:14:11',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 2 => array(
'id' => '29',
'post_id' => '5',
'tag_id' => '1',
'created' => '2016-02-27 17:02:02',
'modified' => '2016-02-27 17:02:02',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 3 => array(
'id' => '38',
'post_id' => '5',
'tag_id' => '5',
'created' => '2016-03-20 02:02:14',
'modified' => '2016-03-20 02:02:14',
'deleted' => null
),
(int) 4 => array(
'id' => '39',
'post_id' => '5',
'tag_id' => '7',
'created' => '2016-03-20 02:20:34',
'modified' => '2016-03-20 02:20:34',
'deleted' => null
)
)
)
)
As you can see, there's no additional Tag information available: I only got the link table information. One of my attempts was to add the joins to the query:
$this->Post->virtualFields = array(
'date_published' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%d/%m/%Y")',
'time_published' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%ku%i")',
'day' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%d")',
'month' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%m")',
'year' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%Y")',
'hours' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%k")',
'minutes' => 'DATE_FORMAT(Post.published, "%i")'
);
$this->Paginator->settings = array(
'fields' => array(
'Post.id',
'Post.title',
'Post.content',
'Post.published',
'Post.slug',
'Post.date_published',
'Post.time_published',
'Post.day',
'Post.month',
'Post.year'
),
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'post_tag_links',
'alias' => 'PostTagLink',
'type' => 'inner',
'conditions' => 'Post.id = PostTagLink.post_id'
),
array(
'table' => 'tags',
'alias' => 'Tag',
'type' => 'inner',
'conditions' => 'Tag.id = PostTagLink.tag_id'
)
),
'conditions' => array(
'Post.published <' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s'),
'Post.show' => 'Y',
'Post.deleted' => null,
$tagCondition
),
'order' => array(
'Post.published' => 'DESC',
'Post.id' => 'DESC',
),
'limit' => 999
);
$posts = $this->Paginator->paginate(
'Post'
);
Here's the problem that I have multiple times the same Post in the query results withouh returning the Tag information of course :P.
Anyone who can help me on this one? ;)
Edit
Here are my model declarations.
Post.php
App::uses('AppModel', 'Model');
class Post extends AppModel
{
public $hasMany = array(
'PostComment' => array(
'className' => 'PostComment',
'foreignKey' => 'post_id',
'dependent' => true
),
'PostPhoto' => array(
'className' => 'PostPhoto',
'foreignKey' => 'post_id',
'order' => 'PostPhoto.sequence ASC',
'conditions' => array(
'PostPhoto.show' => 'Y'
),
'dependent' => true
),
'PostTagLink' => array(
'className' => 'PostTagLink',
'foreignKey' => 'post_id'
)
);
}
PostTagLink.php
App::uses('AppModel', 'Model');
class PostTagLink extends AppModel
{
public $belongsTo = array(
'Post' => array(
'className' => 'Post',
'foreignKey' => 'post_id'
),
'Tag' => array(
'className' => 'Tag',
'foreignKey' => 'tag_id'
)
);
}
Tag.php
App::uses('AppModel', 'Model');
class Tag extends AppModel
{
public $hasMany = array(
'PostTagLink' => array(
'className' => 'PostTagLink',
'foreignKey' => 'tag_id'
)
);
}