Containing threaded association

CakePHP has find('threaded') which lets you fetch records recursively. A good example is threaded comments. Say, you have Articles hasMany Comments, and each comment can have a parent, linked via parent_comment_id.

You define your association as usual. Then in the Comments table add the following:

    public function beforeFind($event, $query, $options, $primary)
    {
        $query->find('threaded', [
            'parentField' => 'parent_comment_id'
        ]);
    }

This allows you to define an association and call $this->Articles->find('all')->contain('Comments') as normal, yet still benefit from the built-in threaded feature.