Luckily there is an alternative to both solutions outlined in this article. Rafael Bandeira has created the Linkable behaviour (http://rafaelbandeira3.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/linkable-behavior-taking-it-easy-in-your-db/) which basically replicates what the Containable behavior can do but using joins. The interface is much the same as Containable so usually it’s a seamless drop in. There are a few limitations, but not many. Check it out.


$data = $this->User->find( 'all', array( 'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'albums' ,
'alias' => 'Album' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => 'user_id' ,
),
array(
'table' => 'photos' ,
'alias' => 'Photo' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => 'album_id' ,
),
array(
'table' => 'comments' ,
'alias' => 'Comment' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => 'photo_id' ,
),
)));

$data = $this->User->find( 'all', array( 'joins' => array(
array(
'table' => 'albums' ,
'alias' => 'Album' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => false ,
'conditions' => array(
'User.id' => 'Album.user_id' ,
)
),
array(
'table' => 'photos' ,
'alias' => 'Photo' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => false ,
'conditions' => array(
'Album.id' => 'Photo.album_id' ,
)
),
array(
'table' => 'comments' ,
'alias' => 'Comment' ,
'type' => 'inner' ,
'foreignKey' => false ,
'conditions' => array(
'Photo.id' => 'Comment.photo_id' ,
)
),
)));


Both of these options *are untested* and may not work perfectly. I suggest you tweak the order of the conditions, or combine the foreignKey = ‘foreignTable_id’ and the conditions array if you run into trouble. The SQL debugger is very useful.