pivot table in laravel 4 insertion - laravel-4

Question

hey guys im new in laravel and i was trying to insert into my pivot table. i have this structure in my database
the departments table belongs to many categories and same as category so i have this models
use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
class Departments extends Eloquent {
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'departments';
protected $fillable = ['department_name'];
public $timestamps = false;
/**
* The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
*
* #var array
*/
public function categories()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Categories');
}
}
use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
class Categories extends Eloquent {
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'categories';
protected $fillable = ['name'];
public $timestamps = false;
/**
* The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
*
* #var array
*/
public function department()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Departments');
}
}
then i have a query in my controller like this
$messages = array(
'required' => 'Please Fill the required field',
'unique' => 'Name Already exist'
);
$catName = Input::get('categoryName');
$deptId = Input::get('deptId');
$validation = Validator::make(Input::all(),[
'categoryName' => 'required|unique:categories,name' ], $messages);
if($validation->fails()){
return array('error' =>$validation->messages()->all() );
}else{
$findDepartment = Departments::find($deptId);
$saveCat = $findDepartment->categories()->insert(array('name' => $catName));
}
but then when i checked the tables it adds up on the categories table but nothing is added in the category_department. do i miss any codes? and also i had an error last time I was trying to migrate my pivot table the error was this.
can you help me guys on what i am missing? tnx for the help in advanced.

Answer 1

First, you should name your model classes as singular: Category, Department.
Then try to declare your relationships with the pivot table name:
public function categories()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Category', 'category_department');
}
and
public function departments()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Departments', 'category_department');
}
now, to insert new data, try attach:
$findDepartment = Department::find($deptId);
$category = Category::where('name', '=', $catName)->first();
$saveCat = $findDepartment->categories()->attach($category->id);