How to save additional data to join Table if joined entities are created new

Question

i am trying to save additional data to a belongsToMany join Table. I followed the instructions here But they are just in case the entities already exist, because an id is used it seems. But my entities should be new created and additional join data should be saved. My save data looks like this. Everything is persisted fine, except the additional field 'type_keys'

(int) 0 => object(Cloud\Model\Entity\MediaObject) {

        'media_object_type_id' => 'image',
        'title' => '1482842705_1_749145',
        'relative_path' => '/optional_images/1/1/',
        'extension' => 'jpg',
        'size' => (int) 142683,
        'original_title' => 'logo.jpg',
        '_joinData' => [
            'type_key' => 'optional_image_1'
        ],
        '[new]' => true,
        '[accessible]' => [
            '*' => true
        ],
        '[dirty]' => [
            'media_object_type_id' => true,
            'title' => true,
            'relative_path' => true,
            'extension' => true,
            'size' => true,
            'original_title' => true,
            '_joinData' => true
        ],
        '[original]' => [],
        '[virtual]' => [],
        '[errors]' => [],
        '[invalid]' => [],
        '[repository]' => 'Cloud.MediaObjects'

    }

Unfortunately just the joind ids in the join table are saved, but not the joinData field 'type_keys'

I would be happy if someone can give me a clue.

On further testing i found out that the join data gets overwritten when saving. For your information: I am setting the media object join data in the beforeSave callback.

object(Cloud\Model\Entity\Touchpoint) {

'title' => 'test',
'user_id' => (int) 1,
'tp_image' => [
    'name' => '',
    'type' => '',
    'tmp_name' => '',
    'error' => (int) 4,
    'size' => (int) 0
],
'optional_image_1' => [
    'name' => 'logo.jpg',
    'type' => 'image/jpeg',
    'tmp_name' => '/tmp/phpMeTwuQ',
    'error' => (int) 0,
    'size' => (int) 142683
],
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\Time) {

    'time' => '2016-12-27T13:19:03+00:00',
    'timezone' => 'UTC',
    'fixedNowTime' => false

},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\Time) {

    'time' => '2016-12-27T13:19:03+00:00',
    'timezone' => 'UTC',
    'fixedNowTime' => false

},
'brand_id' => (int) 1,
'media_objects' => [
    (int) 0 => object(Cloud\Model\Entity\MediaObject) {

        'media_object_type_id' => 'image',
        'title' => '1482844743_1_988232',
        'relative_path' => '/optional_images/1/1/',
        'extension' => 'jpg',
        'size' => (int) 142683,
        'original_title' => 'logo.jpg',
        '_joinData' => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {

            'touchpoint_id' => (int) 8,
            'media_object_id' => (int) 8,
            '[new]' => false,
            '[accessible]' => [
                '*' => true
            ],
            '[dirty]' => [],
            '[original]' => [],
            '[virtual]' => [],
            '[errors]' => [],
            '[invalid]' => [],
            '[repository]' => 'MediaObjectsTouchpoints'

        },
        'created' => object(Cake\I18n\Time) {

            'time' => '2016-12-27T13:19:03+00:00',
            'timezone' => 'UTC',
            'fixedNowTime' => false

        },
        'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\Time) {

            'time' => '2016-12-27T13:19:03+00:00',
            'timezone' => 'UTC',
            'fixedNowTime' => false

        },
        'id' => (int) 8,
        '[new]' => false,
        '[accessible]' => [
            '*' => true
        ],
        '[dirty]' => [],
        '[original]' => [
            '_joinData' => [
                'type_key' => 'optional_image_1'
            ]
        ],
        '[virtual]' => [],
        '[errors]' => [],
        '[invalid]' => [],
        '[repository]' => 'Cloud.MediaObjects'

    }
],
'id' => (int) 8,
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
    '*' => true
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Cloud.Touchpoints'

}

So i know it gets overwritten, but i am not sure how to do this the right way?

Answer 1

Ok i found the solution now.

Since i saw an entity is created as _joinData i created an entity myself and did set the property in the entity myself, this way the _joinData does not get replaced, but just enriched with the ids.

$joinTable = TableRegistry::get('MediaObjectsTouchpoints');
$newMediaObject->_joinData = $joinTable->newEntity();

$newMediaObject->_joinData->type_key = 'something';

$entity->media_objects[] = $newMediaObject;