Formatting CakePHP join statement - php

Question

I'm using CakePHP 2.3.8 and I'm trying to more efficiently join two tables. buildings and building_rental_rates
buildings
id | name | description | property_owner | building_type
1 Big Big Building 1 1
building_rental_rates
id | building_type | rate_name | rate
1 1 daily 150.00
2 1 hourly 15.00
I want to look up a building and select the different rental rates. The tables are joined on building_type. Here's the find statement I have
$buildings = $this->Building ->find('all',array(
'Building.property_owner' => '1',
'fields' => array('Building.*','BuildingRentalRate.*'),
'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'building_rental_rates',
'alias' => 'BuildingRentalRate',
'type' => 'inner',
'conditions' => array(
'Building.building_type = BuildingRentalRate.building_type'
)
)
)
));
Here is the result
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[Building] => Array
(
[id] => 1
[name] => Big
[description] => Big Building
[property_owner] => 1
[building_type] => 1
)
[BuildingRentalRate] => Array
(
[id] => 1
[building_type] => 1
[rate_name] => daily
[rate] => 150.00
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[Building] => Array
(
[id] => 1
[name] => Big
[description] => Big Building
[property_owner] => 1
[building_type] => 1
)
[BuildingRentalRate] => Array
(
[id] => 2
[building_type] => 1
[rate_name] => hourly
[rate] => 15.00
)
)
)
While the data is found properly, it's a pain to traverse through it. Can I use a join statement to result in this output? Notice how the BuildingRentalRate is an array containing all entries of that table that share the same building_type
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[Building] => Array
(
[id] => 1
[name] => Big
[description] => Big Building
[property_owner] => 1
[building_type] => 1
)
[BuildingRentalRate] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[id] => 1
[building_type] => 1
[rate_name] => daily
[rate] => 150.00
)
[1] => Array
(
[id] => 2
[building_type] => 1
[rate_name] => hourly
[rate] => 15.00
)
)
)
)
I know Cake can output results like this when using model associations, but I wasn't able to get my associations correct apparently because it kept on joining Building.id on BuildingRentalRate.building_type (it should be Building.building_type = BuildingRentalRate.building_type)
Even with my association like this...
//Building.php
public $hasMany = array('BuildingRentalRate' => array('foreignKey' => 'building_type'));
//BuildingRentalRate.php
public $belongsTo = array('Building' => array('foreignKey' => 'building_type'));
It would join Building.id on BuildingRentalRate.building_type despite specificying building_type in both models as the foreign key.
Can I do some kind of nested SQL query in the conditions or is there an easier way of doing this?

Answer 1

you should be able to avoid using joins if in BuildingRentalRate.php you set your relationship this way
$public belongsTo = array(
'Building' => array(
'foreignKey' => false,
'conditions' => array
(
'Building.building_type' => 'BuildingRentalRate.building_type'
)
)
);