CakePHP 2.1 saving HABTM fields - cakephp

Question

I have two models User and Movie.. Where those are associated with UsersWatchlist..
public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array('User' => array(
'className' => 'User',
'joinTable' => 'users_watchlists',
'foreignKey' => 'movie_id',
'associationForeignKey' => 'user_id',
'unique' => 'keepExisting',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => '',
'limit' => '',
'offset' => '',
'finderQuery' => '',
'deleteQuery' => '',
'insertQuery' => ''
))
public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
'Movie' => array(
'className' => 'Movie',
'joinTable' => 'users_watchlists',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'associationForeignKey' => 'movie_id',
'unique' => 'keepExisting',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => '',
'limit' => '',
'offset' => '',
'finderQuery' => '',
'deleteQuery' => '',
'insertQuery' => ''
))
public $belongsTo = array(
'User' => array(
'className' => 'User',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
),
'Movie' => array(
'className' => 'Movie',
'foreignKey' => 'movie_id',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
))
I created 'watchlist' action in UsersController.. The code is below
public function watchlist($id = null) {
$userid = 3;
if (!$id && $userid != 3) {
$this->Session->setFlash('Invalid Movie');
$this->redirect($this->referer(array('action' => 'listing')));
}
$this->request->data['User']['id'] = $userid;
$this->User->UsersWatchlist->create();
debug($this->User->UsersWatchlist->saveAll(array('user_id' => '2', 'movie_id' => 3)));
if ($this->User->UsersWatchlist->saveAll($this->request->data)) {
$this->Session->setFlash('The movie has been added to your watchlist', 'admin/flash_success');
$this->redirect($this->referer(array('action' => 'listing')));
} else {
$this->Session->setFlash('The movie could not be added to your watchlist. Please, try again.', 'admin/flash_error');
$this->redirect($this->referer(array('action' => 'listing')));
}
}
So i am getting an error while saving.. Please tell me the solution

Answer 1

Firstly your data should look like this (provided you want to save it through the user Model):
$this->request->data = array(
'User' => array(
'id' => '2',
),
'Movie' => array(
'Movie' => array(
(int) 0 => '3',
),
),
);
The main mistake I see is that you're trying to save through the Join Model, where you should be saving through the User model. So in the controller use:
$this->User->saveAll($this->request->data)
If the data is as described above it should go fine. I thought I've answered your question here.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!

Answer 2

Your associations seem interesting. Is there a reason you've associated the HABTM join model with the two models (user, movie)? You can achieve the same effect by putting the first $HABTM in the Movie model, and the second $HABTM in the User model. You don't need to create the intermediate join model, cake will do that for you, you only need the table.