How to fetch rows from hasMany relationship in CakePHP - cakephp

Question

I have the following Models:
class AppModel extends Model {
public $actsAs = array('Containable');
public $recursive = -1;
}
class City extends AppModel { // for "cities" table
public $belongsTo = 'Country';
}
class Country extends AppModel { // for "countries" table
public $hasMany = 'City';
}
..how do I fetch cities for a country. Something like this I'm trying to find out:
$countries = $this->Country->first(); // fetch a country
$cities = $country->city->find('all'); // get the cities for that country
I've set AppModel in this manner to avoid fetching cities every time I call for a country. Sometimes I don't need all the cities to be retrieved so don't want the default join. But, there are times I do want to fetch cities for a given country. The following is the only way I know how:
$cities = City->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
'City.country_id' => $country['Country']['id']
)
))
Is this the most convenient way to access cities once relationships have been established in the model? If so, I don't really understand why bother with $belongsTo and/or $hasMany. Thanks

Answer 1

Associated models first will find the main model, and then will find associated models based on the first query. So it's impossible to limit them based on associated model conditions. So, if you want to limit the main model based on the associated model, you have two options:
Do a Join find
Do a reverse find. It means that you can find City based on conditions, and contain the Country associated to it. For example (assuming that you're on CountriesController):
$this->Country->City->find('all', array(
'conditions' => array(
//your conditions
),
'contain' => array('Country')
));

Answer 2

As you are using CakePHP Model relationship, then it's not require to write Join query.
First thing add the following in Model of Country
class Country extends AppModel { // for "countries" table
public $recursive = 1;
public $hasMany = 'City';
}
Just write the following code,
$countries = $this->Country->find('all');
You can get the cities from $countries in an array format.