CakeDC search plugin using complex conditions in query with HABTM

Question

I wrote 2 days ago to ask about andConditions and it appeared that I didn't understand the idea but the fact is that for two days now I am stuck with the next step using CakeDC:

How do I implement complex HABTM conditions in "query" methods for CakeDC search plugin?

I have Offer HABTM Feature (tables: offers, features, features_offers) and the below works just fine when used in controller:

debug($this->Offer->find('all', array('contain' => array(
                'Feature' => array(
                    'conditions' => array(                                
                            'Feature.id in (8, 10)',
                        )
                )
            )
                )
        )
);

The problem comes when I want to use the same conditions in the search:

public $filterArgs = array(
    array('name' => 'feature_id', 'type' => 'query', 'method' => 'findByFeatures'),
);


........

public function findByFeatures($data = array()) {
    $conditions = '';
    $featureID = $data['feature_id'];

    if (isset($data['feature_id'])) {
        $conditions = array('contain' => array(
                'Feature' => array(
                    'conditions' => array(
                        'Feature.id' => $data['feature_id'],
                                        )
                                    )
                                )
                            );
    }

    return $conditions;        
}

I get an error:

Error: SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'contain' in 'where clause'

which makes me think that I cannot perform this search and/or use containable behavior in searches at all.

Can someone with more experience in the field please let me know if I am missing something or point me to where exactly to find a solution for that - perhaps a section in the cookbook?

EDIT: Also tried the joins. This works perfectly fine in the controller, returning all the data I need:

$options['joins'] = array(
    array('table' => 'features_offers',
        'alias' => 'FeaturesOffers',
        'type' => 'inner',
        'conditions' => array(
            'Offer.id = FeaturesOffers.offer_id'
        ),
        array('table' => 'features',
            'alias' => 'F',
            'type' => 'inner',
            'conditions' => array(
                'F.id = FeaturesOffers.feature_id'
            ),
        )
    ),
);

$options['conditions'] = array(
    'feature_id in (13)' //. $data['feature_id']
);

debug($this->Offer->find('all', $options));

... and when I try to put in the search method I get the returned conditions only in the where clause of the SQL

WHERE ((joins = (Array)) AND (conditions = ('feature_id in Array')))

...resulting in error:

SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'joins' in 'where clause'

EDIT: Maybe I am stupid and sorry to say that but the documentation of the plugin sucks a ton.

I double, triple and quadruple checked (btw, have lost already 30 hours at least on 1 filed of the search form facepalm) and the stupid findByTags from the documentation still doesn't make any sense to me.

public function findByTags($data = array()) {
    $this->Tagged->Behaviors->attach('Containable', array('autoFields' => false));
    $this->Tagged->Behaviors->attach('Search.Searchable');
    $query = $this->Tagged->getQuery('all', array(
        'conditions' => array('Tag.name'  => $data['tags']),
        'fields' => array('foreign_key'),
        'contain' => array('Tag')
    ));
    return $query;
}

As I understand it

$this->Tagged

is supposed to be the name of the model of the HABTM association.

This is quite far from the standards of cakePHP though: http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/associations-linking-models-together.html#hasandbelongstomany-habtm

The way it is described here, says that you don't need another model but rather you associate Recipe with Ingredient as shown below:

class Recipe extends AppModel {
    public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
        'Ingredient' =>
            array(
                'className'              => 'Ingredient',
                'joinTable'              => 'ingredients_recipes',
                'foreignKey'             => 'recipe_id',
                'associationForeignKey'  => 'ingredient_id',
                'unique'                 => true,
                'conditions'             => '',
                'fields'                 => '',
                'order'                  => '',
                'limit'                  => '',
                'offset'                 => '',
                'finderQuery'            => '',
                'deleteQuery'            => '',
                'insertQuery'            => ''
            )
    );
}

meaning that you can access the HABTM assoc table data from Recipe without needing to define model "IngredientRecipe".

And according to cakeDC documentation the model you need is IngredientRecipe and that is not indicated as something obligatory in the cakePHP documentation. Even if this model is created the HABTM assoc doesn't work properly with it - I tried this as well.

And now I need to re-write the search functionality in my way, using only cakePHP even though I spent already 30 hours on it... so unhappy. :(

Answer 1

Every time I come to do this in a project I always spend hours figuring out how to do it using CakeDC search behavior so I wrote this to try and remind myself with simple language what I need to do. I've also noticed that although Using the CakeDC search plugin with associated models this is generally correct there is no explanation which makes it more difficult to modify it to one's own project.

When you have a "has and belongs to many" relationship and you are wanting to search the joining table i.e. the table that has the two fields in it that joins the tables on either side of it together in a many-to-many relationship you want to create a subquery with a list of IDs from one of the tables in the relationship. The IDs from the table on the other side of the relationship are going to be checked to see if they are in that record and if they are then the record in the main table is going to be selected.

In this following example

SELECT Handover.id, Handover.title, Handover.description
FROM handovers AS Handover 
WHERE Handover.id in 
(SELECT ArosHandover.handover_id
FROM aros_handovers AS ArosHandover 
WHERE ArosHandover.aro_id IN (3) AND ArosHandover.deleted != '1') 
LIMIT 20 

all the records from ArosHandover will be selected if they have an aro_id of 3 then the Handover.id is used to decide which Handover records to select.

On to how to do this with the CakeDC search behaviour.

Firstly, place the field into the search form:

echo $this->Form->create('Handover', array('class' => 'form-horizontal'));?>
echo $this->Form->input('aro_id', array('options' => $roles, 'multiple' => true, 'label' => __('For', true), 'div' => false,  true));

etc...

notice that I have not placed the form element in the ArosHandover data space; another way of saying this is that when the form request is sent the field aro_id will be placed under the array called Handover.

In the model under the variable $filterArgs:

'aro_id' => array('name' => 'aro_id', 'type' => 'subquery', 'method' => 'findByAros', 'field' => 'Handover.id')

notice that the type is 'subquery' as I mentioned above you need to create a subquery in order to be able to find the appropriate records and by setting the type to subquery you are telling CakeDC to create a subquery snippet of SQL. The method is the function name that are going to write the code under. The field element is the name of the field which is going to appear in this part of the example query above

WHERE Handover.id in 

Then you write the function that will return the subquery:

    function findByAros($data = array()) 
    {
    $ids = ''; //you need to make a comma separated list of the aro_ids that are going to be checked
    foreach($data['aro_id'] as $k => $v)
    {
      $ids .= $v . ', ';
    }
    if($ids != '')
    {
      $ids = rtrim($ids, ', ');
    }
  //you only need to have these two lines in if you have not already attached the behaviours in the ArosHandover model file
    $this->ArosHandover->Behaviors->attach('Containable', array('autoFields' => false));
    $this->ArosHandover->Behaviors->attach('Search.Searchable');

    $query = $this->ArosHandover->getQuery('all',
       array(
         'conditions' => array('ArosHandover.aro_id IN (' . $ids . ')'),
         'fields' => array('handover_id'),  //the other field that you need to check against, it's the other side of the many-to-many relationship 
         'contain' => false //place this in if you just want to have the ArosHandover table data included
       )
    );
    return $query;
  }

In the Handovers controller:

public $components = array('Search.Prg', 'Paginator'); //you can also place this into AppController
public $presetVars = true; //using $filterArgs in the model configuration 
public $paginate = array(); //declare this so that you can change it

// this is the snippet of the search form processing
public function admin_find()
  {
    $this->set('title_for_layout','Find handovers');
    $this->Prg->commonProcess();
    if(isset($this->passedArgs) && !empty($this->passedArgs))
    {//the following line passes the conditions into the Paginator component
      $this->Paginator->settings = array('conditions' => $this->Handover->parseCriteria($this->passedArgs));
      $handovers = $this->Paginator->paginate(); // this gets the data
      $this->set('handovers', $handovers); // this passes it to the template

If you want any further explanation as to why I have done something, ask and if I get an email to tell me that you have asked I will give an answer if I am able to.

Answer 2

This is not an issue of the plugin but how you build the associations. You need to properly join them for a search across these three tables. Check how CakePHP is fetching the data from HABTM assocs by default.

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/associations-linking-models-together.html#joining-tables

Suppose a Book hasAndBelongsToMany Tag association. This relation uses a books_tags table as join table, so you need to join the books table to the books_tags table, and this with the tags table:

$options['joins'] = array(
    array('table' => 'books_tags',
        'alias' => 'BooksTag',
        'type' => 'inner',
        'conditions' => array(
            'Books.id = BooksTag.books_id'
        )
    ),
    array('table' => 'tags',
        'alias' => 'Tag',
        'type' => 'inner',
        'conditions' => array(
            'BooksTag.tag_id = Tag.id'
        )
    )
);

$options['conditions'] = array(
    'Tag.tag' => 'Novel'
);

$books = $Book->find('all', $options); Using joins allows you to have a maximum flexibility in how CakePHP handles associations and fetch the data, however in most cases you can use other tools to achieve the same results such as correctly defining associations, binding models on the fly and using the Containable behavior. This feature should be used with care because it could lead, in a few cases, into bad formed SQL queries if combined with any of the former techniques described for associating models.

Also your code is wrong somewhere.

Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'contain' in 'where clause'

This means that $Model->contain() is somehow called. I don't see such a call in your code pasted here so it must be somewhere else. If a model method can not be found this error usually happens with the field name as column.

Answer 3

I want to share with everyone that the solution to working with HABTM searches with the plugin lies here: Using the CakeDC search plugin with associated models

@burzum, the documentation is far from ok man. Do you notice the use of 'type' => 'checkbox' and that it is not mentioned anywhere that it is a type? Not to mention the total lack of grammar and the lots of typos and missing prepositions. I lost 2 days only to get a grasp of what the author had in mind and bind the words in there. No comment on that.

I am glad that after 5 days on the uphill work I made it. Thanks anyway for being helpful.