How to compare Query conditions from a BelongsToMany association in CakePHP 4.x? - query-builder

Question

I have a working Posts, Categories and Tags relationship. (Posts BelongsTo Categories and BelongsToMany Tags.) They work just fine at my view and index actions with no issue.
Now, for a simple "search" functionality I'm working with the Query builder. I managed to make it successfully search Posts related to my query, as long as the terms are compared to fields from Posts and Categories, but I would also want to make it work with Tags.
This is my (working) Controller:
public function search()
{
$search = $this->request->getQuery('query');
$posts = $this->Posts->find('all');
$posts->contain(['Categories','Tags']);
if(!empty($search)) {
$posts->where(['or' => [
['Posts.title LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%', 'Posts.status' => 'published'],
['Posts.content LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%', 'Posts.status' => 'published'],
['Categories.name LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%','Posts.status' => 'published'],
]]);
} else {
$posts->where(['Posts.status' => 'published']);
};
$posts = $this->paginate($posts);
$this->set(compact('posts'));
}
These are my (working) Models:
// Posts Table
class PostsTable extends Table
{
public function initialize(array $config): void
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->setTable('posts');
$this->setDisplayField('title');
$this->setPrimaryKey('id');
$this->belongsTo('Categories', [
'foreignKey' => 'category_id',
'joinType' => 'INNER',
]);
$this->belongsToMany('Tags',[
'foreignKey' => 'post_id',
'targetForeignKey' => 'tag_id',
'joinTable' => 'posts_tags'
]);
}
}
// Categories Table
class CategoriesTable extends Table
{
public function initialize(array $config): void
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->setTable('categories');
$this->setDisplayField('name');
$this->setPrimaryKey('id');
$this->hasMany('Posts', [
'foreignKey' => 'category_id',
]);
}
}
// Tags Table
class TagsTable extends Table
{
public function initialize(array $config): void
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->setTable('tags');
$this->setDisplayField('name');
$this->setPrimaryKey('id');
$this->belongsToMany('Posts', [
'foreignKey' => 'tag_id',
'targetForeignKey' => 'post_id',
'joinTable' => 'posts_tags',
]);
}
}
// PostsTags Table
class PostsTagsTable extends Table
{
public function initialize(array $config): void
{
parent::initialize($config);
$this->setTable('posts_tags');
$this->setDisplayField('id');
$this->setPrimaryKey('id');
$this->belongsTo('Posts', [
'foreignKey' => 'post_id',
'joinType' => 'INNER',
]);
$this->belongsTo('Tags', [
'foreignKey' => 'tag_id',
'joinType' => 'INNER',
]);
}
}
And this is my view:
<?php $search = $this->request->getQuery('query'); ?>
<div class="posts index content">
<h1>Search Posts</h1>
<?= $this->Form->create(NULL,['type' => 'get']) ?>
<?= $this->Form->control('query',['default' => $search]) ?>
<?= $this->Form->button('submit') ?>
<?= $this->Form->end() ?>
<?php foreach ($posts as $post): ?>
<div class="card">
<!-- Here goes the Post data -->
</div>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</div>
<div class="paginator">
<ul class="pagination">
<?= $this->Paginator->first('<< ' . __('first')) ?>
<?= $this->Paginator->prev('< ' . __('previous')) ?>
<?= $this->Paginator->numbers() ?>
<?= $this->Paginator->next(__('next') . ' >') ?>
<?= $this->Paginator->last(__('last') . ' >>') ?>
</ul>
<p><?= $this->Paginator->counter(__('Page {{page}} of {{pages}}')) ?></p>
</div>
So when I submit the form, it filters my posts according to those conditions. But when I try adding a field from my Tags model to the search query, it breaks.
I tried adding the line:
['Tags.name LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%', 'Posts.status' => 'published']
...under:
['Categories.name LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%','Posts.status' => 'published']
But then when I introduce a query term, it throws me a "SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'Tags.name' in 'where clause'" error.
Same thing happens if instead of "$posts->where(...)" I use the "$posts->find('all',['conditions' => [...]]):" option.
So I'm stumped... How can I search a term within a HABTM relationship?
What am I missing?

Answer 1

User ndm's comment did the trick. So in case it wasn't clear enough (and if someone ever finds the same issue I did in the future), here's my final working controller:
public function search()
{
$search = $this->request->getQuery('query');
$posts = $this->Posts->find('all')
->leftJoinWith('Tags')
->group(['Posts.id']);
$posts->contain(['Categories','Tags']);
if(!empty($search)) {
$posts->where(['or' => [
['Posts.title LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%', 'Posts.status' => 'published'],
['Posts.content LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%', 'Posts.status' => 'published'],
['Categories.name LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%','Posts.status' => 'published'],
['Tags.name LIKE' => '%'.$search.'%','Posts.status' => 'published']
]]);
} else {
$posts->where(['Posts.status' => 'published']);
};
$posts = $this->paginate($posts);
$this->set(compact('posts'));
}