Cant find Magento model used in block class

Question

So, basically, I have a template that makes the following call.

$methods = $this->getMethods();
$oneMethod = count($methods) <= 1;

The corresponding block class simply has something like this

public function getMethods(){
    $methods = $this->getData('methods'); 
}

(I have only copied the relevant portion of the code)

The problem is that I cannot figure out where the getData is looking because no model has been instantiated in this block class or the one that extends to it. There is no call like Mage::getModel(?/?).

How does this know which table to look at in the database? The variables I'm trying to find are "payment methods" (like credit card, cheque, etc). the Block classes I'm dealing with are:

• Mage_Payment_Block_Form_Container
• Mage_Core_Block_Template
• Mage_Core_Block_Abstract

No models are instantiated in any of these classes and I cannot understand how the system is returning types of payment methods for $this->getData('methods');

Answer 1

In app/code/core/Mage/Payment/Block/Form/Container.php there is the following;

 /**
 * Retrieve available payment methods
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function getMethods()
{
    $methods = $this->getData('methods');
    if ($methods === null) {
        $quote = $this->getQuote();
        $store = $quote ? $quote->getStoreId() : null;
        $methods = array();
        foreach ($this->helper('payment')->getStoreMethods($store, $quote) as $method) {
            if ($this->_canUseMethod($method) && $method->isApplicableToQuote(
                $quote,
                Mage_Payment_Model_Method_Abstract::CHECK_ZERO_TOTAL
            )) {
                $this->_assignMethod($method);
                $methods[] = $method;
            }
        }
        $this->setData('methods', $methods);
    }
    return $methods;
}

You can try poking around here.