Self linking model in cakePHP 3 and retrieving data from the join table

Question

im creating a WebApp with cakePHP 3.0.

I have a User Model and Table which has and belongs to many Users.

So i set up tables according to cake conventions:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `users`
(
user_id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
);

and the JOIN table:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `users_users`
(
supervisor_id int,
employee_id int,
FOREIGN KEY (supervisor_id) REFERENCES users(user_id),
FOREIGN KEY (employee_id) REFERENCES users(user_id)
);

In my UserTable.php i created these associations:

    $this->table('users');
    $this->primaryKey('user_id');

    $this->belongsTo('Users', [
                'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
                'joinType' => 'INNER'
   ]);

    $this->belongsToMany('Supervisors', [
                'className' => 'Users',
                'targetForeignKey' => 'supervisor_id'
    ]);
    $this->belongsToMany('Employees', [
                'className' => 'Users',
                'targetForeignKey' => 'employee_id'
    ]);

Now in a new model method i want to get the Supervisors of one employee:

public function getSupervisorEmail($user_id) {
        $supervisors = $this->Employees->Supervisors->find()->select(['user_id']);
        debug($supervisors);
        return $supervisors;
    }

I put sample data in my users_users Table but i dont know how i can access these entries. The query in the function above doesnt do what i expect it to do. It just returns a record from my Users Table without joining with users_users Table what i dont understand because i set all up according to naming conventions of cakePHP 3...

How can i access my join Table and get associated records? EG get Supervisors associated to user with user_id 1. I tried different querys but none used my join table.

Thanks for answers!

Answer 1

Problem was that I got the concept wrong. The SQL statement when you debug the query doesnt show every SQL stuff which happens internally in cakePHP so u dont see the automatic joins.

But now i figured out that it works perfectly by echoing testdata like in the cakePHP book http://book.cakephp.org/3.0/en/orm/associations.html#belongstomany-associations

Thanks though @burzum for trying to help me the provided links are always helpfull.