CakePHP - Correct way to do hasMany through - php

Question

I have 3 models
Categories:
class Category extends AppModel {
public $belongsTo = array(
'Parent' => array(
'className' => 'Category',
'foreignKey' => 'parent_id'
),
);
public $hasMany = array(
'Children' => array(
'className' => 'Category',
'foreignKey' => 'parent_id'
),
'UserCategoryMeta'
);
}
Users:
class User extends AppModel {
public $hasMany = array(
'UserCategoryMeta' => array(
'className' => 'UserCategoryMeta',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
),
);
}
UserCategoryMeta:
class UserCategoryMeta extends AppModel
{
public $belongsTo = array(
'User', 'Category'
);
}
What I need to do is have each user be able to choose many categories and for each of those associations I need the user to set search terms which is just 1 field in the DB.
So the UserCategoryMeta table looks like this:
id | user_id | category_id | search_terms
I've found a way which might work but it seems very hacky.
In the usercontroller I have:
$Categories = $this->User->Category->find('list');
Then in the add view I have the checkboxes:
echo $this->Form->input('Category.Category',array(
'type' => 'select',
'multiple' =>'checkbox',
'options' => $Categories,
));
Then the only way I could get each of those checkboxes to have a search terms input next to them is to do this in the add view:
foreach ($Categories as $key => $category){
echo '<input type="text" id="Category'.$key.'SearchTerms" name="data[Category][search_terms]['.$key.']"><br/>';
}
This produces what I want but obviously since I'm just creating random inputs when the form get's submitted it get's black holed. I have managed to get passed this but I know I'm doing it the wrong way and hopefully someone can help me do it the right way.
Also then once I have this data array in the controller im not sure how to save it to the database correctly.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

Just do what you're doing, but in the repeat, use $this->Form->input instead of just manually writing the HTML.