Declaring a MANY_MANY relation with a classifier in yii

Question

Let's say I have the following database structure:

I have a Classifier table which contains a list of classifier types like "Eye color", "Hair color", "Shoe size", etc. It is linked to the Property table which has lists of properties that correspond to the classifier. For example, it could have black , brown , white and red for hair type and US 8 , US 9 , and US 10 for shoe size. The Person table is linked to the Property table in a MANY_MANY fashion.

When this structure is declared in yii like so

'properties'=>array(self::MANY_MANY, 'Property', 'Xref(Person_id, Property_id)')

I can do something like this:

 foreach ($person->properties as $property) {
     echo ($property->classifier->name.': '.$property->name);
 }

But what I am looking for is to address all properties separately, like $person->hairColor or $person->shoeSize .

Sure, I could declare multiple MANY_MANY relations with a condition (only on Classifier_id equal to some value). But for that I need to know all Classifier ids beforehand - not flexible at all.

But is there a way do declare this relation in yii so that it automatically parses the classifier? So that when I add a new row to the Classifier table, say, build and values like slim or athletic , I can just use $person->build without declaring a new relation?

Not only that, I'd like to use these in CDbCriteria , like so $my_criteria->compare('build.name', 'slim') as opposed to both comparing Classifier_id with what corresponds to build and Property with 'slim' .

Answer 1

You can use the magic __get() for that:

In your Person model (untested code sorry):

public function __get($prop)
{
    if ($this->properties->hasAttribute($prop))
    {
        return $this->property->$prop;
    }

    return null;
    // or maybe better
    return parent::__get($prop);
}

Be arware that overriding CActiveRecords __get() might be a problem and is not recommended. You should check that.