Cakephp Relasi type inner atau left/right

Cakephp way

class User extends AppModel {
    public $actsAs = array('Containable');
    public $hasMany = array('Message');
}

class Message extends AppModel {
    public $actsAs = array('Containable');
    public $belongsTo = array('User');
}
You need to change the messages.from column to be messages.user_id so that cake can automagically associate the records for you.

Then you can do this from the messages controller:

$this->Message->find('all', array(
    'contain' => array('User')
    'conditions' => array(
        'Message.to' => 4
    ),
    'order' => 'Message.datetime DESC'
));

The (other) CakePHP way

$this->Message->find('all', array(
    'joins' => array(
        array(
            'table' => 'users',
            'alias' => 'UserJoin',
            'type' => 'INNER',
            'conditions' => array(
                'UserJoin.id = Message.from'
            )
        )
    ),
    'conditions' => array(
        'Message.to' => 4
    ),
    'fields' => array('UserJoin.*', 'Message.*'),
    'order' => 'Message.datetime DESC'
));

Using two relationships to the same model

Here is how you can do the first example using two relationships to the same model:

class User extends AppModel {
    public $actsAs = array('Containable');
    public $hasMany = array(
        'MessagesSent' => array(
            'className'  => 'Message',
            'foreignKey' => 'from'
         )
    );
    public $belongsTo = array(
        'MessagesReceived' => array(
            'className'  => 'Message',
            'foreignKey' => 'to'
         )
    );
}

class Message extends AppModel {
    public $actsAs = array('Containable');
    public $belongsTo = array(
        'UserFrom' => array(
            'className'  => 'User',
            'foreignKey' => 'from'
        )
    );
    public $hasMany = array(
        'UserTo' => array(
            'className'  => 'User',
            'foreignKey' => 'to'
        )
    );
}
Now you can do your find call like this:

$this->Message->find('all', array(
    'contain' => array('UserFrom')
    'conditions' => array(
        'Message.to' => 4
    ),
    'order' => 'Message.datetime DESC'
)); 

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