[FIXED] You can't have an association of the same name with a different target "className" option anywhere in your app

Issue

I am using slince/cakephp-permission package for adding permissions and roles to my CakePHP application.

I have managed to set it up but when I try to give a permission to a role I see this error:

Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\RolesTable association "Permissions" of type "manyToMany" to "App\Model\Table\PermissionsTable" doesn't match the expected class "Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\PermissionsTable". You can't have an association of the same name with a different target "className" option anywhere in your app.

The code that fire this error is the one below

$roleObj = Role::find($role->name);
$roleObj->givePermission($addPermission);

if I var_dump the $roleObj this is the result I obtain

object(Slince\CakePermission\Model\Entity\Role)#239 (13) {
  ["id"]=>
  int(6)
  ["name"]=>
  string(5) "Admin"
  ["slug"]=>
  string(5) "Admin"
  ["created"]=>
  object(Cake\I18n\Time)#258 (3) {
    ["time"]=>
    string(25) "2018-08-22T11:41:28+00:00"
    ["timezone"]=>
    string(3) "UTC"
    ["fixedNowTime"]=>
    bool(false)
  }
  ["modified"]=>
  string(15) "22/08/18, 11:41"
  ["[new]"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["[accessible]"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["id"]=>
    bool(false)
    ["*"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["[dirty]"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["[original]"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["[virtual]"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["[errors]"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["[invalid]"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["[repository]"]=>
  string(16) "_PermissionRoles"
}

These are the relationship in the tables pages

$this->belongsToMany('Permissions', [
            'targetTable' => 'Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\Permissions',
            'className' => 'Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\Permissions',
            'foreignKey' => 'role_id',
            'targetForeignKey' => 'permission_id',
            'joinTable' => 'roles_permissions',
            'saveStrategy' => 'append'
 ]);
$this->belongsToMany('Roles', [
            'targetTable' => 'Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\Roles',
            'className' => 'Slince\CakePermission\Model\Table\Roles',
            'foreignKey' => 'permission_id',
            'targetForeignKey' => 'role_id',
            'joinTable' => 'roles_permissions',
            'saveStrategy' => 'append'
]);

I have tried several different setting but I always get the same error. I think I am missing something when setting the relations between the table up.

Do you guys have any idea how to solve this problem?

Solution

It happens when you have two (or more) associations with name "Permissions" defined within your app and each refers different model class.

You sholuld check if:

1. Any user defined associantion with name "Permissions" exists. And if so - rename it.
2. Any other plugin uses "Permissions" association (maybe legacy permissions manager) - then one must be removed or overwritten.

Answered By - r34