CakePHP HABTM relationship saving new associations - cakephp

Question

Im having some problems with saving my HABTM relationship for some code I'm working with. I have Podcasts and Categories in a HABTM relationship. Code and problem explanation below
Model/Podcast.php
class Podcast extends AppModel{
public $hasMany = 'Episode';
public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
'Category' =>
array(
'className' => 'Category',
'joinTable' => 'categories_podcasts',
'foreignKey' => 'podcast_id',
'associationForeignKey' => 'category_id',
'unique' => false
)
);
}
Model/Category.php
class Category extends AppModel{
public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
'Podcast' =>
array(
'className' => 'Podcast',
'joinTable' => 'categories_podcasts',
'foreignKey' => 'category_id',
'associationForeignKey' => 'podcast_id',
'unique' => false
)
);
}
This is what the array I'm passing into saveAll() looks like
Array
(
[Podcast] => Array
(
[name] => Mohr Stories - FakeMustache.com
[description] => Join your host Jay Mohr and a rotating cast of his hilarious friends as they regale you with tales and conversation covering every topic imaginable. You haven't heard the half of it until you've heard... Mohr Stories.
[website] => http://www.FakeMustache.com
)
[Category] => Array
(
[0] => 1
[1] => 2
)
)
Which works fine - the podcast is added and the join table is updated, but I was under the impression that my Category array could look like the following:
[Category] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => Test
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] => Test2
)
)
Which would save the new categories "Test" and "Test2" and then update the join table with their newly added ids. Is this not possible, or I am missing some of the picture here?

Answer 1

You do are able to do that, but with another data format in which each record contains the associated data as on the following code that allows to save 2 records :
array{
array{
'Podcast' => array {
'id' => 25
},
'Category' => array {
'name' => 'Test'
}
}
array{
'Podcast' => array {
'id' => 25
},
'Category' => array {
'name' => 'Test2'
}
}
}
Pass this array to the saveAll method on one of your Podcast/Category Models.
$this->Podcast->saveAll($myData);
But take care, as you don't provide any id for the categories, they will be created, even if there are existing Category with the same name.
And if a Podcast with the id 25 doesn't exists, it will be created.