Relational Active Record
========================

We have already seen how to use Active Record (AR) to select data from a
single database table. In this section, we describe how to use AR to join
several related database tables and bring back the joint data set.

In order to use relational AR, it is recommended that primary-foreign key
constraints are declared for tables that need to be joined. The constraints
will help to keep the consistency and integrity of the relational data.

For simplicity, we will use the database schema shown in the
following entity-relationship (ER) diagram to illustrate examples in this
section.

![ER Diagram](er.png)

> Info: Support for foreign key constraints varies in different DBMS.
> SQLite 3.6.19 or prior does not support foreign key constraints, but you can still
> declare the constraints when creating tables. MySQL’s MyISAM engine
> does not support foreign keys at all.


Declaring Relationship
----------------------

Before we use AR to perform relational query, we need to let AR know how
one AR class is related with another.

Relationship between two AR classes is directly associated with the
relationship between the database tables represented by the AR classes.
From database point of view, a relationship between two tables A and B has
three types: one-to-many (e.g. `tbl_user` and `tbl_post`), one-to-one (e.g.
`tbl_user` and `tbl_profile`) and many-to-many (e.g. `tbl_category` and `tbl_post`).
In AR, there are four types of relationships:

   - `BELONGS_TO`: if the relationship between table A and B is
one-to-many, then B belongs to A (e.g. `Post` belongs to `User`);

   - `HAS_MANY`: if the relationship between table A and B is one-to-many,
then A has many B (e.g. `User` has many `Post`);

   - `HAS_ONE`: this is special case of `HAS_MANY` where A has at most one
B (e.g. `User` has at most one `Profile`);

   - `MANY_MANY`: this corresponds to the many-to-many relationship in
database. An associative table is needed to break a many-to-many
relationship into one-to-many relationships, as most DBMS do not support
many-to-many relationship directly. In our example database schema, the
`tbl_post_category` serves for this purpose. In AR terminology, we can explain
`MANY_MANY` as the combination of `BELONGS_TO` and `HAS_MANY`. For example,
`Post` belongs to many `Category` and `Category` has many `Post`.

There is fifth special type which performs aggregational queries on the related
records - it's called `STAT`. Please refer to the
[Statistical Query](/doc/guide/database.arr#statistical-query) section
for more details.

Declaring relationship in AR involves overriding the
[relations()|CActiveRecord::relations] method of [CActiveRecord]. The
method returns an array of relationship configurations. Each array element
represents a single relationship with the following format:

~~~
[php]
'VarName'=>array('RelationType', 'ClassName', 'ForeignKey', ...additional options)
~~~

where `VarName` is the name of the relationship; `RelationType` specifies
the type of the relationship, which can be one of the four constants:
`self::BELONGS_TO`, `self::HAS_ONE`, `self::HAS_MANY` and
`self::MANY_MANY`; `ClassName` is the name of the AR class related to this
AR class; and `ForeignKey` specifies the foreign key(s) involved in the
relationship. Additional options can be specified at the end for each
relationship (to be described later).

The following code shows how we declare the relationships for the `User`
and `Post` classes.

~~~
[php]
class Post extends CActiveRecord
{
	......

	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'author'=>array(self::BELONGS_TO, 'User', 'author_id'),
			'categories'=>array(self::MANY_MANY, 'Category',
				'tbl_post_category(post_id, category_id)'),
		);
	}
}

class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	......

	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'posts'=>array(self::HAS_MANY, 'Post', 'author_id'),
			'profile'=>array(self::HAS_ONE, 'Profile', 'owner_id'),
		);
	}
}
~~~

> Info: A foreign key may be composite, consisting of two or more columns.
In this case, we should concatenate the names of the foreign key columns
and separate them with commas or an array such as `array('key1','key2')`.
In case you need to specify custom `PK->FK` association you can define it as
`array('fk'=>'pk')`. For composite keys it will be `array('fk_c1'=>'pk_c1','fk_c2'=>'pk_c2')`.
For `MANY_MANY` relationship type,
the associative table name must also be specified in the foreign key. For
example, the `categories` relationship in `Post` is specified with the
foreign key `tbl_post_category(post_id, category_id)`.
The declaration of relationships in an AR class implicitly adds a property
to the class for each relationship. After a relational query is performed,
the corresponding property will be populated with the related AR
instance(s). For example, if `$author` represents a `User` AR instance,
we can use `$author->posts` to access its related `Post` instances.

Performing Relational Query
---------------------------

The simplest way of performing relational query is by reading a relational
property of an AR instance. If the property is not accessed previously, a
relational query will be initiated, which joins the two related tables and
filters with the primary key of the current AR instance. The query result
will be saved to the property as instance(s) of the related AR class. This
is known as the *lazy loading* approach, i.e., the relational query
is performed only when the related objects are initially accessed. The
example below shows how to use this approach:

~~~
[php]
// retrieve the post whose ID is 10
$post=Post::model()->findByPk(10);
// retrieve the post's author: a relational query will be performed here
$author=$post->author;
~~~

> Info: If there is no related instance for a relationship, the
corresponding property could be either null or an empty array. For
`BELONGS_TO` and `HAS_ONE` relationships, the result is null; for
`HAS_MANY` and `MANY_MANY`, it is an empty array.
Note that the `HAS_MANY` and `MANY_MANY` relationships return arrays of objects,
you will need to loop through the results before trying to access any properties.
Otherwise, you may receive "Trying to get property of non-object" errors.

The lazy loading approach is very convenient to use, but it is not
efficient in some scenarios. For example, if we want to access the author
information for `N` posts, using the lazy approach would involve executing
`N` join queries. We should resort to the so-called *eager loading*
approach under this circumstance.

The eager loading approach retrieves the related AR instances together
with the main AR instance(s). This is accomplished by using the
[with()|CActiveRecord::with] method together with one of the
[find|CActiveRecord::find] or [findAll|CActiveRecord::findAll] methods in
AR. For example,

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('author')->findAll();
~~~

The above code will return an array of `Post` instances. Unlike the lazy
approach, the `author` property in each `Post` instance is already
populated with the related `User` instance before we access the property.
Instead of executing a join query for each post, the eager loading approach
brings back all posts together with their authors in a single join query!

We can specify multiple relationship names in the
[with()|CActiveRecord::with] method and the eager loading approach will
bring them back all in one shot. For example, the following code will bring
back posts together with their authors and categories:

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('author','categories')->findAll();
~~~

We can also do nested eager loading. Instead of a list of relationship
names, we pass in a hierarchical representation of relationship names to
the [with()|CActiveRecord::with] method, like the following,

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with(
	'author.profile',
	'author.posts',
	'categories')->findAll();
~~~

The above example will bring back all posts together with their author and
categories. It will also bring back each author's profile and posts.

Eager loading may also be executed by specifying
the [CDbCriteria::with] property, like the following:

~~~
[php]
$criteria=new CDbCriteria;
$criteria->with=array(
	'author.profile',
	'author.posts',
	'categories',
);
$posts=Post::model()->findAll($criteria);
~~~

or

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->findAll(array(
	'with'=>array(
		'author.profile',
		'author.posts',
		'categories',
	)
));
~~~


Performing Relational query without getting related models
---------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes we need to perform query using relation but don't want to get related
models. Let's assume we have `User`s who posted many `Post`s. Post can be published
but also can be in a draft state. This is determined by `published` field in the
post model. Now we need to get all users who have published posts and we are not
interested in posts themselves. This can be achieved the following way:

~~~
[php]
$users=User::model()->with(array(
	'posts'=>array(
		// we don't want to select posts
		'select'=>false,
		// but want to get only users with published posts
		'joinType'=>'INNER JOIN',
		'condition'=>'posts.published=1',
	),
))->findAll();
~~~


Relational Query Options
------------------------

We mentioned that additional options can be specified in relationship
declaration. These options, specified as name-value pairs, are used to
customize the relational query. They are summarized as below.

   - `select`: a list of columns to be selected for the related AR class.
It defaults to '*', meaning all columns. Column names referenced in this option
should be disambiguated.

   - `condition`: the `WHERE` clause. It defaults to empty. Column names
referenced in this option should be disambiguated.

   - `params`: the parameters to be bound to the generated SQL statement.
This should be given as an array of name-value pairs.

   - `on`: the `ON` clause. The condition specified here will be appended
to the joining condition using the `AND` operator. Column names referenced
in this option should be disambiguated.
This option does not apply to `MANY_MANY` relations.

   - `order`: the `ORDER BY` clause. It defaults to empty. Column names
referenced in this option should be disambiguated.

   - `with`: a list of child related objects that should be loaded
together with this object. Be aware that using this option inappropriately
may form an infinite relation loop.

   - `joinType`: type of join for this relationship. It defaults to `LEFT
OUTER JOIN`.

   - `alias`: the alias for the table associated with this relationship.
It defaults to null, meaning the table alias is the same as the relation name.

   - `together`: whether the table associated with this relationship should
be forced to join together with the primary table and other tables.
This option is only meaningful for `HAS_MANY` and `MANY_MANY` relations.
If this option is set false, the table associated with the `HAS_MANY` or `MANY_MANY`
relation will be joined with the primary table in a separate SQL query, which
may improve the overall query performance since less duplicated data is returned.
If this option is set true, the associated table will always be joined with the
primary table in a single SQL query, even if the primary table is paginated.
If this option is not set, the associated table will be joined with the
primary table in a single SQL query only when the primary table is not paginated.
For more details, see the section "Relational Query Performance".

   - `join`: the extra `JOIN` clause. It defaults to empty. This option
has been available since version 1.1.3.

   - `group`: the `GROUP BY` clause. It defaults to empty. Column names
referenced in this option should be disambiguated.

   - `having`: the `HAVING` clause. It defaults to empty. Column names
referenced in this option should be disambiguated.

   - `index`: the name of the column whose values should be used as keys
of the array that stores related objects. Without setting this option,
an related object array would use zero-based integer index.
This option can only be set for `HAS_MANY` and `MANY_MANY` relations.

   - `scopes`: scopes to apply. In case of a single scope can be used like
`'scopes'=>'scopeName'`, in case of multiple scopes can be used like
`'scopes'=>array('scopeName1','scopeName2')`. This option has been available
since version 1.1.9.

In addition, the following options are available for certain relationships
during lazy loading:

   - `limit`: limit of the rows to be selected. This option does NOT apply
to `BELONGS_TO` relation.

   - `offset`: offset of the rows to be selected. This option does NOT
apply to `BELONGS_TO` relation.

   - `through`: name of the model's relation that will be used as a bridge when
   getting related data. This option has been available since version 1.1.7
   where it can be used for `HAS_ONE` and `HAS_MANY`. Since 1.1.14 it can be used
   for `BELONGS_TO` as well.

Below we modify the `posts` relationship declaration in the `User` by
including some of the above options:

~~~
[php]
class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'posts'=>array(self::HAS_MANY, 'Post', 'author_id',
							'order'=>'posts.create_time DESC',
							'with'=>'categories'),
			'profile'=>array(self::HAS_ONE, 'Profile', 'owner_id'),
		);
	}
}
~~~

Now if we access `$author->posts`, we would obtain the author's posts
sorted according to their creation time in descending order. Each post
instance also has its categories loaded.


Disambiguating Column Names
---------------------------

When a column name appears in two or more tables being joined
together, it needs to be disambiguated. This is done by prefixing the
column name with its table's alias name.

In relational AR query, the alias name for the primary table is fixed as `t`,
while the alias name for a relational table
is the same as the corresponding relation name by default. For example,
in the following statement, the alias name for `Post` and `Comment` is
`t` and `comments`, respectively:

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('comments')->findAll();
~~~

Now assume both `Post` and `Comment` have a column called `create_time` indicating
the creation time of a post or comment, and we would like to fetch posts together
with their comments by ordering first the posts' creation time and then the comments'
creation time. We need to disambiguate the `create_time` column like the following:

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('comments')->findAll(array(
	'order'=>'t.create_time, comments.create_time'
));
~~~

> Tip: The default alias of a related table is the name of the relation. Please note that if you're
> using relation from within another relation the alias will be the former relation name only and
> will not be prefixed with the parent relation. For example, the alias for 'author.group' relation is
> 'group', not 'author.group'.
>
> ~~~
> [php]
> $posts=Post::model()->with('author', 'author.group')->findAll(array(
> 	'order'=>'group.name, author.name, t.title'
> ));
> ~~~
> 
> You can avoid the collision of tables' aliases by specifying the [alias|CActiveRelation::alias] property
> of the relation.
>
> ~~~
> [php]
> $comments=Comment::model()->with(
> 	'author',
> 	'post',
> 	'post.author'=>array('alias'=>'p_author'))->findAll(array(
> 	'order'=>'author.name, p_author.name, post.title'
> ));
> ~~~

Dynamic Relational Query Options
--------------------------------

We can use dynamic relational query options
in both [with()|CActiveRecord::with] and the `with` option. The dynamic
options will overwrite existing options as specified in the [relations()|CActiveRecord::relations]
method. For example, with the above `User` model, if we want to use eager
loading approach to bring back posts belonging to an author in *ascending order*
(the `order` option in the relation specification is descending order), we
can do the following:

~~~
[php]
User::model()->with(array(
	'posts'=>array('order'=>'posts.create_time ASC'),
	'profile',
))->findAll();
~~~

Dynamic query options can also be used when using the lazy loading approach to perform relational query. To do so, we should call a method whose name is the same as the relation name and pass the dynamic query options as the method parameter. For example, the following code returns a user's posts whose `status` is 1:

~~~
[php]
$user=User::model()->findByPk(1);
$posts=$user->posts(array('condition'=>'status=1'));
~~~


Relational Query Performance
----------------------------

As we described above, the eager loading approach is mainly used in the scenario
when we need to access many related objects. It generates a big complex SQL statement
by joining all needed tables. A big SQL statement is preferrable in many cases
since it simplifies filtering based on a column in a related table.
It may not be efficient in some cases, however.

Consider an example where we need to find the latest posts together with their comments.
Assuming each post has 10 comments, using a single big SQL statement, we will bring back
a lot of redundant post data since each post will be repeated for every comment it has.
Now let's try another approach: we first query for the latest posts, and then query for their comments.
In this new approach, we need to execute two SQL statements. The benefit is that there is
no redundancy in the query results.

So which approach is more efficient? There is no absolute answer. Executing a single big SQL statement
may be more efficient because it causes less overhead in DBMS for parsing and executing
the SQL statements. On the other hand, using the single SQL statement, we end up with more redundant data
and thus need more time to read and process them.

For this reason, Yii provides the `together` query option so that we choose between the two approaches as needed.
By default, Yii uses eager loading, i.e., generating a single SQL statement, except when `LIMIT` is applied to the primary model.
We can set the `together` option in the relation declarations to be true to force a single SQL statement even when `LIMIT` is used.
Setting it to false will result in some of tables will be joined in separate SQL statements. For example, in order to use separate SQL statements
to query for the latest posts with their comments, we can declare the `comments` relation
in `Post` class as follows,

~~~
[php]
public function relations()
{
	return array(
		'comments' => array(self::HAS_MANY, 'Comment', 'post_id',
						'together'=>false),
	);
}
~~~

We can also dynamically set this option when we perform the eager loading:

~~~
[php]
$posts = Post::model()->with(
			array('comments'=>array(
				'together'=>false
			))
		)->findAll();
~~~


Statistical Query
-----------------

Besides the relational query described above, Yii also supports the so-called statistical query (or aggregational query). It refers to retrieving the aggregational information about the related objects, such as the number of comments for each post, the average rating for each product, etc. Statistical query can only be performed for objects related in `HAS_MANY` (e.g. a post has many comments) or `MANY_MANY` (e.g. a post belongs to many categories and a category has many posts).

Performing statistical query is very similar to performing relation query as we described before. We first need to declare the statistical query in the [relations()|CActiveRecord::relations] method of [CActiveRecord] like we do with relational query.

~~~
[php]
class Post extends CActiveRecord
{
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'commentCount'=>array(self::STAT, 'Comment', 'post_id'),
			'categoryCount'=>array(
				self::STAT, 'Category', 'post_category(post_id, category_id)'
			),
		);
	}
}
~~~

In the above, we declare two statistical queries: `commentCount` calculates the number of comments belonging to a post, and `categoryCount` calculates the number of categories that a post belongs to. Note that the relationship between `Post` and `Comment` is `HAS_MANY`, while the relationship between `Post` and `Category` is `MANY_MANY` (with the joining table `post_category`). As we can see, the declaration is very similar to those relations we described in earlier subsections. The only difference is that the relation type is `STAT` here.


With the above declaration, we can retrieve the number of comments for a post using the expression `$post->commentCount`. When we access this property for the first time, a SQL statement will be executed implicitly to retrieve the corresponding result. As we already know, this is the so-called *lazy loading* approach. We can also use the *eager loading* approach if we need to determine the comment count for multiple posts:

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('commentCount', 'categoryCount')->findAll();
~~~

The above statement will execute three SQLs to bring back all posts together with their comment counts and category counts. Using the lazy loading approach, we would end up with `2*N+1` SQL queries if there are `N` posts.

By default, a statistical query will calculate the `COUNT` expression (and thus the comment count and category count in the above example). We can customize it by specifying additional options when we declare it in [relations()|CActiveRecord::relations]. The available options are summarized as below.

   - `select`: the statistical expression. Defaults to `COUNT(*)`, meaning the count of child objects.

   - `defaultValue`: the value to be assigned to those records that do not receive a statistical query result. For example, if a post does not have any comments, its `commentCount` would receive this value. The default value for this option is 0.

   - `condition`: the `WHERE` clause. It defaults to empty.

   - `params`: the parameters to be bound to the generated SQL statement.
This should be given as an array of name-value pairs.

   - `order`: the `ORDER BY` clause. It defaults to empty.

   - `group`: the `GROUP BY` clause. It defaults to empty.

   - `having`: the `HAVING` clause. It defaults to empty.


Relational Query with Named Scopes
----------------------------------

Relational query can also be performed in combination with [named scopes](/doc/guide/database.ar#named-scopes). It comes in two forms. In the first form, named scopes are applied to the main model. In the second form, named scopes are applied to the related models.

The following code shows how to apply named scopes to the main model.

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->published()->recently()->with('comments')->findAll();
~~~

This is very similar to non-relational queries. The only difference is that we have the `with()` call after the named-scope chain. This query would bring back recently published posts together with their comments.

And the following code shows how to apply named scopes to the related models.

~~~
[php]
$posts=Post::model()->with('comments:recently:approved')->findAll();
// or since 1.1.7
$posts=Post::model()->with(array(
	'comments'=>array(
		'scopes'=>array('recently','approved')
	),
))->findAll();
// or since 1.1.7
$posts=Post::model()->findAll(array(
	'with'=>array(
		'comments'=>array(
			'scopes'=>array('recently','approved')
		),
	),
));
~~~

The above query will bring back all posts together with their approved comments. Note that `comments` refers to the relation name, while `recently` and `approved` refer to two named scopes declared in the `Comment` model class. The relation name and the named scopes should be separated by colons.

Occasionally you may need to retrieve a scoped relationship using a lazy-loading approach, instead of the normal eager loading method shown above.  In that case, the following syntax will do what you need:

~~
[php]
// note the repetition of the relationship name, which is necessary
$approvedComments = $post->comments('comments:approved');
~~

Named scopes can also be specified in the `with` option of the relational rules declared in [CActiveRecord::relations()]. In the following example, if we access `$user->posts`, it would bring back all *approved* comments of the posts.

~~~
[php]
class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'posts'=>array(self::HAS_MANY, 'Post', 'author_id',
				'with'=>'comments:approved'),
		);
	}
}

// or since 1.1.7
class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
		    'posts'=>array(self::HAS_MANY, 'Post', 'author_id',
				'with'=>array(
					'comments'=>array(
						'scopes'=>'approved'
					),
				),
			),
		);
	}
}
~~~

> Note: Before 1.1.7 named scopes applied to related models must be specified in CActiveRecord::scopes.
> As a result, they cannot be parameterized.

Since 1.1.7 it's possible to pass parameters for relational named scopes.
For example, if you have scope named `rated` in the `Post` that accepts minimum
rating of post, you can use it from `User` the following way:

~~~
[php]
$users=User::model()->findAll(array(
	'with'=>array(
		'posts'=>array(
			'scopes'=>array(
				'rated'=>5,
			),
		),
	),
));

class Post extends CActiveRecord
{
	......

	public function rated($rating)
	{
		$this->getDbCriteria()->mergeWith(array(
			'condition'=>'rating=:rating',
			'params'=>array(':rating'=>$rating),
		));
		return $this;
	}

	......
}
~~~

Relational Query with through
-----------------------------

When using `through`, relation definition should look like the following:

~~~
[php]
'comments'=>array(self::HAS_MANY,'Comment',array('key1'=>'key2'),'through'=>'posts'),
~~~

In the above `array('key1'=>'key2')`:

  - `key1` is a key defined in relation specified in `through` (`posts` is this case).
  - `key2` is a key defined in a model relation points to (`Comment` in this case).

`through` can be used with `HAS_ONE`, `BELONGS_TO` and `HAS_MANY` relations.


### `HAS_MANY` through

![HAS_MANY through ER](has_many_through.png)

An example of `HAS_MANY` with `through` is getting users from a particular group when
users are assigned to groups via roles.

A bit more complex example is getting all comments for all users of a particular
group. In this case we have to use several relations with `through` in a single model:

~~~
[php]
class Group extends CActiveRecord
{
	...
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'roles'=>array(self::HAS_MANY,'Role','group_id'),
			'users'=>array(
				self::HAS_MANY,'User',array('user_id'=>'id'),'through'=>'roles'
			),
			'comments'=>array(
				self::HAS_MANY,'Comment',array('id'=>'user_id'),'through'=>'users'
			),
		);
	}
}
~~~

#### Usage examples

~~~
[php]
// get all groups with all corresponding users
$groups=Group::model()->with('users')->findAll();

// get all groups with all corresponding users and roles
$groups=Group::model()->with('roles','users')->findAll();

// get all users and roles where group ID is 1
$group=Group::model()->findByPk(1);
$users=$group->users;
$roles=$group->roles;

// get all comments where group ID is 1
$group=Group::model()->findByPk(1);
$comments=$group->comments;
~~~


### `HAS_ONE` through

![HAS_ONE through ER](has_one_through.png)

An example of using `HAS_ONE` with `through` is getting user address where
user is bound to address using profile. All these entities (user, profile, and address)
do have corresponding models:

~~~
[php]
class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	...
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'profile'=>array(self::HAS_ONE,'Profile','user_id'),
			'address'=>array(
				self::HAS_ONE,'Address',array('id'=>'profile_id'),
					'through'=>'profile'
			),
		);
	}
}
~~~

#### Usage examples

~~~
[php]
// get address of a user whose ID is 1
$user=User::model()->findByPk(1);
$address=$user->address;
~~~


### through on self

`through` can be used for a model bound to itself using a bridge model. In our case
it's a user mentoring other users:


![through self ER](through_self.png)


That's how we can define relations for this case:

~~~
[php]
class User extends CActiveRecord
{
	...
	public function relations()
	{
		return array(
			'mentorships'=>array(
				self::HAS_MANY,'Mentorship','teacher_id','joinType'=>'INNER JOIN'
			),
			'students'=>array(
				self::HAS_MANY,'User',array('student_id'=>'id'),
					'through'=>'mentorships','joinType'=>'INNER JOIN'
			),
		);
	}
}
~~~

#### Usage examples

~~~
[php]
// get all students taught by teacher whose ID is 1
$teacher=User::model()->findByPk(1);
$students=$teacher->students;
~~~