Retrieving values from multiple tables using CakePHP model associations - cakephp

Question

I have a ProductsController in which I am retrieving Products data and need to also retrieve the Category Name. (Note: My Products table has only Category_ID in it), how can I do that using CakePHP model associations?
I have seen examples in which the ID of the main data table (in my case, Products table) is a Foreign Key in the Associated Table. However, my case slightly different in that the Category_ID (from the secondary table) is part of the Main table (Products table).
I am not able to retrieve the Category Name using CakePHP model config. Can you help?
My ProductsController is on Products table which has
ID
Prod_Name
Category_ID
....
My Categories table is like
ID
Cat_Name
In my ProductsController I want to retrieve Cat_Name for Products being retrieved.

Answer 1

In your Product Model, use the association:
var $belongsTo = array(
'Category' => array(
'className' => 'Category',
'foreignKey' => 'category_id',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
)
);
When retrieving your Products data use find method:
$this->set('variable', $this->Product->find('all'));
Once its in your View, it is an array containing all the products and its category.
Like this:
<?php
foreach($variable as $itemInTable):
echo 'Product:' . $itemInTable['Product']['Prod_Name'];
echo 'Its Category:' . $itemInTable['Category']['Cat_Name'];
endforeach;
?>

Answer 2

fzmaster's answer is correct. When you have a foreign key in Table A that corresponds to an id in Table B, it is said that the Model A "belongs to" Model B. At the same time, there could be an inverse relationship where Model B "has many" Model As.
The associations are fairly straightforward within that context and if you use the Cake naming conventions, you can associate the models with minimal additional code:
class Product extends AppModel{
var $belongsTo = array( 'Category' );
}
class Category extends AppModel{
var $hasMany = array( 'Product' );
}
At that point, CakePHP's Model::Find() method will automatically retrieve associated models unless you limit it with $recursive or by using the Containable behavior.