DataMapper ORM v1.8.0

[eluser]Mike Chojnacki[/eluser]
Having a bit of trouble understanding the relationships using datamapper.

As an example, let's say we have this structure:

Table 'user':
id | username

Table 'group':
id | group_name

Table 'group_user:
id | user_id | group_id

Table 'group_method':
id | group_id | method_id

Table 'method'
id | method_name | object_id

Table 'object'
id | object_name

Imagine that every user is a part of a group, but can be part of many groups.

Every group has access to certain methods which are children of a object.

If I understand relationships correctly;
'user' has many 'group'
'group' has many 'user', 'method'
'method' has many 'group', has one 'object'
'object' has many 'method'
(If I'm mistaken let me know)

I've been studying the manual on relationships and advanced get functions, but there is one thing I just can't get to work on my own;

Code:

$u = new user();
$u->where('username', 'foo')->get(); // gets the id of the user where username equals 'foo'

With autoloading related objects on, one can do something like;

Code:

$u->group->method->get(); // returns a method which matches the user id in a group the user is a part of and also returns the object id of that method

This is all fine and dandy, until you get to a point where it looks like this;

Code:

echo $u->username.'<br/>';
echo $u->group_name.'<br/>';
echo $u->group->method->method_name.'<br/>';
echo $u->group->method->object_id.'<br/>';

Not only is the syntax very long, it also loads a new datamapper object for every table you access, var_dumping $u results in a few hundred lines of code that just repeats itself.

I've been trying all sorts of combinations of advanced get query builds, but can't seem to get a result like this;

Code:

$u->where('username', 'foo')->get_all_related_tables_and_fields_of_those_in_the_current_relationship_structure;

The code above would, put simply, merge:

Code:

echo $u->username.'<br/>';
echo $u->group_name.'<br/>';
echo $u->group->method->method_name.'<br/>';
echo $u->group->method->object_id.'<br/>';

into $u, making it possible to do:

Code:

echo $u->username.'<br/>';
echo $u->group_name.'<br/>'; // array if several are found
echo $u->method_name.'<br/>'; // array if several are found
echo $u->object_id.'<br/>';

I guess what I really want to know is:
Is this somehow supported in the library with a combination of where_related or other functions which I just don't understand fully, or should I write my own helper that does this automatically for me?