hasAndBelongsToMany relationship in CakePHP not saving the data

Question

I am facing a problem in CakePHP. I want hasAndBelongsToMany relationship to bs_categories and bs_listing_types tables. ( A category can have multiple listing types).

These are the table structure that i have used.

bs_categories
-------------
id             int(10)
parent_id      int(10)
lft            int(10)
rght           int(10)
title          varchar(255)
body           text
meta_title     varchar(255)
meta_keyword   text
meta_desc      text
slug           varchar(255)
status         int(1)
created        datetime
modified       datetime

bs_listing_types
-----------------
id          int(11)
title       varchar(255)
status      int(1)
created     datetime
modified    datetime

bs_listing_types_categories
---------------------------
id              int(11)
listing_type_id int(11)
category_id     int(11)

I have written following code in the model:

/**
 * hasAndBelongsToMany associations
 *
 * @var array
 */
public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
    'ListingType' => array(
        'className'             => 'ListingType',
        'joinTable'             => 'listing_types_categories',
        'foreignKey'            => 'listing_type_id',
        'associationForeignKey' => 'category_id',
        'unique'                => 'keepExisting',
        'conditions'            => '',
        'fields'                => '',
        'order'                 => '',
        'limit'                 => '',
        'offset'                => '',
        'finderQuery'           => '',
    )
);

At time of saving, i am getting following data.

Array(
[Category] => Array
    (
        [listing_type_id] => Array
            (
                [0] => 2
                [1] => 3
            )

        [parent_id] =>
        [id] => 1
        [title] => Advert
        [meta_title] => Advert
        [meta_keyword] => Advert
        [meta_desc] => Advert
        [status] => 1
    ))

But the problem is that it is not saving the data into the bs_listing_types_categories table. Am i doing anything wrong. Please HELP!

Answer 1

HABTM NEVER has ID column as per cakePHP convention else ,data wont save.

bs_listing_types_categories

Will have following fields only

listing_type_id int(11)
category_id     int(11)

For more information LINK

For Example If posts are related to tags in HABTM , then ,check out posts_to_tags Without id field.

CREATE TABLE `posts` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `body` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `tags` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `posts_tags` (
  `post_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `tag_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`post_id`,`tag_id`)
);

Your table structure

Answer 2

your array should be like this so u should make the array like this before applying save using foreach loop.

Array(
[Category] => Array
    (
        [listing_type_id] => Array
            (
                [0] => 2
)
[listing_type_id] => Array
            (
                [1] => 3
            )

        [parent_id] =>
        [id] => 1
        [title] => Advert
        [meta_title] => Advert
        [meta_keyword] => Advert
        [meta_desc] => Advert
        [status] => 1
    ))

and while saving you should use saveAssociated.