after reading the cookbook and various Q&A here I am still a bit confused conceptually about the model associations and what they do. And I was hoping that somebody can help me straighten this out. So here goes my question(s):
As far as I can understand model associations helps reading / finding associated data. So if I load a User then all Posts for that User will be loaded as well? But is it true that CakePHP doesn't do much for saving new entries? For example: If I create a new Post then I have to specify the user_id field for the relevant User manually, CakePHP doesn't do it automatically somehow? With manually I mean defining the mentor_id explicitly in this answer: CakePHP model associations table w/data and new table
And why is it necessary to "mention" both models when saving? $this->Mentor->Student->save($student) in example. Is it a way to keep track of two-way associations??