cakephp -- getting appropriate model data in complex relationships - cakephp

Question

OK. Trying to articulate my issue as concisely as possible. I've got this massive project, for which the main purpose is generating a configuration file from Model data. I'm at a loss on how to get the appropriate information in an efficient way when gleaning the db for config info. The Models: District, Department, User, Carrier.
District
hasMany Department
| id | name |
Department
hasMany User through DepartmentPosition
| id | name | district_id | tone_name | tone_length |
User
hasMany Department through DepartmentPosition
belongsTo Carrier
| id | name | phone | email | carrier_id | notify_method (tiny int) |
Carrier
hasMany User
| id | name | mms_gateway |
DepartmentPosition
belongsTo User, Department
| id | user_id | department_id | role |
A configuration file is to generated for each district, using fields associated with all models above. For each department in a district the following is to be added to a string which, when finished, will be saved to the configuration file:
[tone_name] //comes from department name
tone = 123 //from department tone
tone_length = 4 //from department tone_length
mp3_emails = person#gmail.com, person2#gmail.com ... //comes from user email
amr_emails = 5551239999#vzwipix.com //concat of user phone and carrier mms_gateway
Basically, the lists for a department's mp3_emails and amr_emails should be generated based on the users in that department, based on the notify_method User field. I've been able get everything but these email fields into the config file with the following:
//districts controller
public function generate_config(){
$districts = $this->District->find('All');
$this->set(compact('districts'));
}
Now, for the view file:
<?php
$output = '';
$br = " \r\n";
$unrelated = array('id', 'name', 'district_id', 'tone_name');
foreach($districts as $district){
$name = $district['District']['name'];
$output .= "#{$name} configuration".$br;
$departments = $district['Department'];
foreach($departments as $department){
$output .= "[".$department['tone_name']."]".$br;
foreach($department as $key => $value){
if(!empty($value)&&(!in_array($key, $unrelated))){
$output .= $key." = ".$value.$br;
}
}
$output .= $br;
}
}
echo nl2br($output);
?>
That outputs something like this
#District 1 config
[Department1]
tone = 123
tone_length = 4
[Department2]
tone = 24.7
tone_length = 2
What I need to do is generate the email lists for each department, but I can't figure out a sensible way to do this. I feel it would be much easier if the departments and users used a HABTM relationship, rather than the hasMany through, which i felt i had to use instead because i'm saving additional data for the relationship. Any suggestions?? Don't hesitate to ask if i should be clearer about anything, but i've tried to give all relevant information while minimizing overwhelming details. THANK YOU!!!
EDIT
Thanks to #Drewdiddy611, my sanity has been spared. Containable behavior is perfect for this issue. So, hopefully someone will avoid a complete project overhaul -- something which I was moments away from doing -- and use the containable behavior.
Simply adding the following to my models:
public $actsAs = array('Containable');
I was able to then run the find query, implementing the containable behavior just as suggested below, i was able to add greater depth to my iteration over each District/Department. It was extremely easy because the returned array was just as written in the answer chosen below!!! thanks!

Answer 1

I think you were right to use the 'hasMany through' relationship based on your tables/data. In cakephp 2.1, they added a 'unique' key for HABTM relationships which you can set to 'keepExisting' and it's supposed to circumvent lost data.
http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/models/associations-linking-models-together.html#hasmany-through - Look at the "Changed in 2.1" section below the main header.
Maybe give that a try?
You could also look at containable behavior.
Then you could do the following:
<?php
//model
var $actsAs = array('Containable');
//controller
$this->District->contain(array(
'Department' => array(
'DepartmentPosition' => array(
'User' => array(
'Carrier'
)
)
)
));
$districts = $this->District->find('all');
$this->set(compact('districts'));
// I believe this will be the outcome after the find.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// array(
// [0] => array(
// 'District' => array(...),
// 'Department' => array(
// [0] => array(
// '...' => '...', // repeated...
// 'DepartmentPosition' => array(
// [0] => array(
// '...' => '...', // repeated...
// 'User' => array(
// '...' => '...', // repeated...
// 'Carrier' => array(
// '...' => '...', // repeated...
// )
// )
// )
// )
// )
// )
// )
// )
?>
-Andrew