# Get all "permissions" for user

**URL:** <https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764>\
**Category:** Need Help\
**Created:** [March 11, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764 "2019-03-11T11:33:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/1 "2019-03-11T11:33:32Z")

</div>

Hii there,

a while ago, I have made [this](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/getting-permissions-from-table/4410) question on how I could get a specific permission/right for a user.  
Now I want to do pretty much the same but except of a specific permission, I want to have all the permissions for a user.

The structure I’m dealing with looks like this (exact result may vary depending on the roles a user has):

```auto
Array
(
    [0] => Cake\ORM\Entity Object
        (
            [role_id] => 1
            [access_cms] => 
            [edit_settings] => 
            [view_media] => 
            [add_media] => 
            [edit_media] => 
            [delete_media] => 
            [add_posts] => 
            [edit_posts] => 
            [view_private_posts] => 
            [view_unlisted_posts] => 1
            [[new]] => 
            [[accessible]] => Array
                (
                    [*] => 1
                )

            [[dirty]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[original]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[virtual]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[hasErrors]] => 
            [[errors]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[invalid]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[repository]] => Permissions
        )

    [1] => Cake\ORM\Entity Object
        (
            [role_id] => 2
            [access_cms] => 
            [edit_settings] => 
            [view_media] => 
            [add_media] => 
            [edit_media] => 
            [delete_media] => 
            [add_posts] => 
            [edit_posts] => 
            [view_private_posts] => 
            [view_unlisted_posts] => 
            [[new]] => 
            [[accessible]] => Array
                (
                    [*] => 1
                )

            [[dirty]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[original]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[virtual]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[hasErrors]] => 
            [[errors]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[invalid]] => Array
                (
                )

            [[repository]] => Permissions
        )

)

```

So I want a list containing all the permissions a user has (if none of the roles have a specific permission, do not add it to the list).  
So in this example one role has `view_unlisted_posts` so It should be in the list, but no others will be in there (`role_id` can be ignored).  
Now let’s say one of the roles has the `access_cms` permission, then add that to the list as well.  
If the permission is found at least once in any role, it can be added, else, it shouldn’t be added.

I hope I’m not too confusing with this 😛

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zuluru](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/zuluru/32/1230_2.png) [@Zuluru](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/Zuluru)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/2 "2019-03-12T14:35:25Z")

</div>

You’re looking for something other than a simple

`TableRegistry::get('Permissions')->find()->where(['role_id IN' => $roles])`

? Where `$roles` might be pre-loaded from elsewhere, or might be a query of its own.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/3 "2019-03-12T15:11:53Z")

</div>

I have not even considered doing it like that yet.  
Unfortunately, I just returned home so I can’t test it yet.  
Will report back when I get to work again Thursday.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 9:13am UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/4 "2019-03-14T09:13:25Z")

</div>

So, I’ve tried doing this but it leaves me with a huge object that I cannot understand what to do with it.

```auto
Cake\ORM\Query Object
(
    [(help)] => This is a Query object, to get the results execute or iterate it.
    [sql] => SELECT Permissions.role_id AS `Permissions __role_id`, Permissions.access_cms AS `Permissions__ access_cms`, Permissions.edit_settings AS `Permissions __edit_settings`, Permissions.view_media AS `Permissions__ view_media`, Permissions.add_media AS `Permissions __add_media`, Permissions.edit_media AS `Permissions__ edit_media`, Permissions.delete_media AS `Permissions __delete_media`, Permissions.add_posts AS `Permissions__ add_posts`, Permissions.edit_posts AS `Permissions __edit_posts`, Permissions.view_private_posts AS `Permissions__ view_private_posts`, Permissions.view_unlisted_posts AS `Permissions__view_unlisted_posts` FROM permissions Permissions WHERE role_id in (:c0,:c1)
    [params] => Array
        (
            [:c0] => Array
                (
                    [value] => Kikioboeru\Kikioboeru\Model\Entity\Role Object
                        (
                            [id] => 1
                            [name] => Administrator
                            [_joinData] => Cake\ORM\Entity Object
                                (
                                    [user_id] => 1
                                    [role_id] => 1
                                    [[new]] => 
                                    [[accessible]] => Array
                                        (
                                            [*] => 1
                                        )

                                    [[dirty]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[original]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[virtual]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[hasErrors]] => 
                                    [[errors]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[invalid]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[repository]] => UsersRoles
                                )

                            [[new]] => 
                            [[accessible]] => Array
                                (
                                    [name] => 1
                                    [permissions] => 1
                                    [users] => 1
                                )

                            [[dirty]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[original]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[virtual]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[hasErrors]] => 
                            [[errors]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[invalid]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[repository]] => Kikioboeru/Kikioboeru.Roles
                        )

                    [type] => integer
                    [placeholder] => c0
                )

            [:c1] => Array
                (
                    [value] => Kikioboeru\Kikioboeru\Model\Entity\Role Object
                        (
                            [id] => 2
                            [name] => Member
                            [_joinData] => Cake\ORM\Entity Object
                                (
                                    [user_id] => 1
                                    [role_id] => 2
                                    [[new]] => 
                                    [[accessible]] => Array
                                        (
                                            [*] => 1
                                        )

                                    [[dirty]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[original]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[virtual]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[hasErrors]] => 
                                    [[errors]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[invalid]] => Array
                                        (
                                        )

                                    [[repository]] => UsersRoles
                                )

                            [[new]] => 
                            [[accessible]] => Array
                                (
                                    [name] => 1
                                    [permissions] => 1
                                    [users] => 1
                                )

                            [[dirty]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[original]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[virtual]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[hasErrors]] => 
                            [[errors]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[invalid]] => Array
                                (
                                )

                            [[repository]] => Kikioboeru/Kikioboeru.Roles
                        )

                    [type] => integer
                    [placeholder] => c1
                )

        )

    [defaultTypes] => Array
        (
            [Permissions__role_id] => integer
            [Permissions.role_id] => integer
            [role_id] => integer
            [Permissions__access_cms] => boolean
            [Permissions.access_cms] => boolean
            [access_cms] => boolean
            [Permissions__edit_settings] => boolean
            [Permissions.edit_settings] => boolean
            [edit_settings] => boolean
            [Permissions__view_media] => boolean
            [Permissions.view_media] => boolean
            [view_media] => boolean
            [Permissions__add_media] => boolean
            [Permissions.add_media] => boolean
            [add_media] => boolean
            [Permissions__edit_media] => boolean
            [Permissions.edit_media] => boolean
            [edit_media] => boolean
            [Permissions__delete_media] => boolean
            [Permissions.delete_media] => boolean
            [delete_media] => boolean
            [Permissions__add_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions.add_posts] => boolean
            [add_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions__edit_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions.edit_posts] => boolean
            [edit_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions__view_private_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions.view_private_posts] => boolean
            [view_private_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions__view_unlisted_posts] => boolean
            [Permissions.view_unlisted_posts] => boolean
            [view_unlisted_posts] => boolean
        )

    [decorators] => 0
    [executed] => 
    [hydrate] => 1
    [buffered] => 1
    [formatters] => 0
    [mapReducers] => 0
    [contain] => Array
        (
        )

    [matching] => Array
        (
        )

    [extraOptions] => Array
        (
        )

    [repository] => Cake\ORM\Table Object
        (
            [registryAlias] => Permissions
            [table] => permissions
            [alias] => Permissions
            [entityClass] => Cake\ORM\Entity
            [associations] => Array
                (
                )

            [behaviors] => Array
                (
                )

            [defaultConnection] => default
            [connectionName] => default
        )

)

```

Again, all I want is a simple array/object that contains a list of all the rights a user has :\

EDIT: using `all()` or `execute()` on it just throws a big error in my face:

> Cannot convert value of type `Kikioboeru\Kikioboeru\Model\Entity\Role` to integer

EDIT2: I got around the error by the following code:

```auto
return TableRegistry::get('Permissions')
        ->find()
        ->where([
          'role_id IN' => collection($this->roles)
            ->extract('id')
            ->toArray()
        ]);

```

But this still leaves two separate entities instead of one…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/6 "2019-03-14T12:26:14Z")

</div>

Ive written some code to illustrate what results I want to receive back, but it’s horribly inefficient and throws errors:

```auto
$res = TableRegistry::get('Permissions')
  ->find()
  ->where([
    'role_id IN' => collection($this->roles)->extract('id')->toArray()
  ]);
$permissions = [];

foreach($res as $entity) {
  foreach($entity as $obj) {
    foreach($obj as $permission => $value) {
      if($permission == "role_id" || $permission == "*")
        continue;

      if(in_array($permission, $permissions))
        continue;
            
      if($value)
        $permissions[] = $permission;
    }
  }
}

```

This gives me the following back:

```auto
array:10 [▼
  0 => "access_cms"
  1 => "edit_settings"
  2 => "add_media"
  3 => "edit_media"
  4 => "delete_media"
  5 => "add_posts"
  6 => "edit_posts"
  7 => "view_private_posts"
  8 => "view_unlisted_posts"
  9 => "view_media"
]

```

I hope someone can help me finding a cleaner solution to this.  
the `$permissions` may also be an object instead of an array ofcourse.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/7 "2019-03-14T12:58:16Z")

</div>

I’ve managed to make the code a bit smaller, but I still feel it can be done better:

```auto
foreach($res as $entity) {
    foreach($entity->toArray() as $permission => $value) {
      if($permission == "role_id" || $permission == "*") {
        continue;
      }

     if(in_array($permission, $permissions)) {
       continue;
     }
          
     if($value) {
       $permissions[] = $permission;
     }
  }

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zuluru](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/zuluru/32/1230_2.png) [@Zuluru](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/Zuluru)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/8 "2019-03-14T15:35:20Z")

</div>

There’s probably some `collection` method that would simplify your code, but it seems to me that the main problem here is that your database structure is restrictive. More common might be a many-to-many join table between the roles table and a very simple permissions table (just id and name). Then when you contain permissions with the roles, you get back the concise list you’re looking for quite directly. Also, it is then easy to add new permissions by adding a row in the database, instead of needing to write a migration every time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FinlayDaG33k](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.cakephp.org/finlaydag33k/32/1049_2.png) [@FinlayDaG33k](https://discourse.cakephp.org/u/FinlayDaG33k)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cakephp.org/t/get-all-permissions-for-user/5764/9 "2019-03-14T16:48:56Z")

</div>

We… ehm… have not thought of doing that…  
We have a similar thing for assigning users to roles but not for the permissions themselves.

I’ll throw it into the project discussion.  
Sounds like it’s a way more viable option in the long run (I was already looking at my table and thinking “this might become an issue”).  
Thanks!