Fetching records from one table based on existence of records in a HABTM relation.

NewsArticle.php

<?php
class NewsArticle extends AppModel {
    
    public $name = 'NewsArticle';
    public $hasAndBelongsToMany = array(
        'Image' => array(
            'joinTable' => 'news_articles_images'
        )
    );
    
    public function findWithImage($type, $options = array()) {
        $options['joins'] = array(
            array(
                'table' => 'news_articles_images',
                'alias' => 'NewsArticlesImage',
                'type' => 'inner',
                'conditions' => array(
                    'NewsArticle.id = NewsArticlesImage.news_article_id'
                )
            ),
            array(
                'table' => 'images',
                'alias' => 'Image',
                'type' => 'inner',
                'conditions' => array(
                    'NewsArticlesImage.image_id = Image.id'
                )
            )
        );
        return $this->find($type, $options);
    }
}

NewsArticlesController.php

<?php
class NewsArticlesController extends AppController {
    
    public function home() {
        $topStory = $this->NewsArticle->findWithImage('first');
        $this->set('topStory', $topStory);
    }
}