CakePHP delete not cascading. Causes foreign key error

Question

I have a table called custom_carts and I have a table called custom_cart_items.

custom_cart_items has a foreign key called custom_cart_id that is set to custom_cart.id

According to the Cake Manual, when you call Model->delete() the first param is the id of the entry you want to delete and the second param is whether or not to cascade delete the dependent entries.

So when I call $this->CustomCart->delete(7,true) I get this error:

SQL Error: 1451: Cannot delete or update a parent row: a foreign key constraint fails (`krake`.`custom_cart_items`, CONSTRAINT `custom_cart_items_ibfk_1` FOREIGN KEY (`custom_cart_id`) REFERENCES `custom_carts` (`id`))

Here is the query:

DELETE `CustomCart` 
FROM `custom_carts` AS `CustomCart` 
LEFT JOIN `users` AS `User` 
ON (`CustomCart`.`user_id` = `User`.`id`)  
WHERE `CustomCart`.`id` = 25

Shouldn't it cascade and dlete the other entry too?

So why am I getting an error?

what are you associations? Also - true is the default, so you can remove that. — Dave
also - you're not manually specifying the foreign keys are you? you shouldn't need to. — Dave
@Dave I am not sure what you are asking. I set up the association by running this query: ALTER TABLE custom_cart_items ADD FOREIGN KEY (custom_cart_id) REFERENCES custom_cart(id); — JD Isaacks
What is your custom_cart_id field - INT 11? Can you list out a few of the important fields of each of your tables, and the associations you have for each? (by editing the question - this will help potential other answerers w/ your question too) — Dave

Adam Prax Adam Prax · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17T00:50:57

You must set the dependent parameter to true in the model with the hasmany relationship in order to enable cascading deletion.

Your model would look something like this:

class CustomCart extends AppModel {
         var $name = 'CustomCart';
         var $hasMany = array(
         'CustomCartItem' => array(
             'dependent'=> true
         )
);
}

Please see http://book.cakephp.org/view/82/hasMany

CakePHP delete not cascading. Causes foreign key error

3 Answers